Mumbai: Yuvraj Singh was dropped from the ODI squad while lanky Madhya Pradesh seamer Ishwar Pandey earned a maiden call-up in both the Test and ODI squads for the forthcoming India’s tour of New Zealand. Karnataka all-rounder Stuart Binny also received maiden call in the ODI squad while fast bowler Varun Aaron was recalled for the ODIs.
Yuvraj had a poor ODI series against Australia (19 runs in four games including two ducks) after promising much in the one-off Twenty20 game. He failed to make amends against out of form West Indies (99 runs in three games) and failed to score in his only game he got to bat against South Africa recently.
The Punjab left-hander who has made quite a few comebacks in his career now faces a herculean task to make yet another comeback and feature in India’s 2015 World Cup plans.
The 24-year-old Pandey was the leading wicket-taker in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season, with 48 scalps at an average of 21.06. He has 30 wickets already in eight games this season, including innings figures of 8/84 against Railways in Indore.
He replaced Pragyan Ojha in the Test squad which has just one change from the squad that lost two-match Test series (0-1) in South Africa. Ojha did not get a single game in South Africa but had an impressive year with the ball at home.
He missed out as the team think-tank wanted extra pacer for seamer friendly wickets in New Zealand.
“There are always different experiments going on. With that thing in mind as well as the requirement of the team, requirement of the place, more pace bowlers have been selected,” said BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel on including six pacers in the squad.
Pandey replaced Mohit Sharma in the ODI squad while an injury plagued Aaron made a return after two years, replacing compatriot Umesh Yadav. Vidarbha pacer Yadav has also struggled with injuries and failed to make impact in the two ODI games he played in South Africa. Yadav however retained his place in the Test squad.
All-rounder Stuart whose father Roger Binny was part of the selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil that met here on Tuesday replaced Yuvraj in the ODI squad.
Stuart who was part of ICL initially, had a good season with Rajasthan Royals in IPL-6. On the day, he smashed 88 from 94 balls for Karnataka against Delhi in the Ranji match.
Stuart, 29, has played 53 first-class matches and scored 2714 runs at an average of 34.79, besides taking 79 wickets.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were ignored again.
The tour of New Zealand will start with the first ODI in Napier on January 19, followed by matches in Hamilton (Jan. 22 and Jan. 28), Auckland (Jan. 25) and Wellington (Jan 31).
India will play a two-day warm-up match in Whangharei from February 2 followed by the two-match Test series in Auckland (Feb 6 to 10) and Wellington (Feb 14 to 18).
ODI squad
M.S. Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ishwar Pandey, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron
Test squad
M.S. Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R. Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishwar Pandey
Cheteshwar Pujara left out of ODI squad
Cheteshwar Pujara left out of ODI squad
Mumbai: In the recently concluded two-match Test series against South Africa, Cheteshwar Pujara emerged as India’s leading run scorer with 280 runs at an impressive average of 70. Against the best pace attack comprising World No.1 Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel he faced 600 balls and scored a century (153) and a half century. Pujara’s ability to handle pace and play the short ball with minimum fuss makes him an ideal candidate for the swinging conditions in New Zealand but despite a strong performance, the right-hander was overlooked for the ODI tour. In List A games, Pujara averages 54.57 and has nine centuries and 18 fifties but has surprisingly only played two ODIs for India on the away tour for Zimbabwe. With the 2015 World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand, Pujara would have been a valuable addition to the team.
