Parthiv Patel for England tour; Srinath out
Young Gujarat wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who led the India to the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in January, has been included in the Indian Test squad for the forthcoming tour of England while Javagal Srinath was left out of both, the one-day and Test teams.
The national selectors, who met in Kolkata on Saturday, announced a 15-member one-day squad and a 16-member Test team with two wicketkeepers, the other being Ajay Ratra.
"The five national selectors, along with skipper Sourav
Ganguly, met to finalise the teams for the 83-day tour,
beginning later this month," Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Niranjan Shah told a press conference. He did not elaborate on the omission of Srinath, who had recently announced his decision to retire from Test cricket, but said the selectors felt the current bunch of pacemen are quite capable.
"The selectors felt that these boys [pacemen] are doing
quite well at the moment and did not want to disturb the
combination," Shah said.
Asked whether Rahul Dravid would continue to keep wickets
in the shorter version of the game, Shah said, "Dravid had kept
wickets in the West Indies. He might continue to do so, but it
will be a decision of the team management.
"As always, it is the team management which will decide
the playing eleven, depending on the conditions."
He added: "The selectors have chosen the best available squad."
Selection committee chairman Chandu Borde did not turn up at the press conference.
The selectors also decided to retain even those players who failed to impress on the West Indies tour.
Despite failing miserably in the Test series in the
Caribbean, diminutive opener Shiv Sundar Das was retained in
the Test squad and is expected to open with Mumbai's Wasim
Jaffer.
The Test team has just two specialist openers and Shah
indicated that Sanjay Bangar could be used as the third opener
if required.
Srinath's decision to retire from Test cricket in order
to concentrate on next year's World Cup paved the way for
Ajit Agarkar to stage a comeback to the team for the longer
version of the game. Agarkar was not selected in the Test team
for the series against the West Indies.
The one-day squad will leave for England on June 18.
The teams:
For ODIs: Sourav Ganguly (skipper), Rahul
Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia,
Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, V V S Laxman, Ajay Ratra, Zaheer
Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra,
Tinu Yohannan.
For Tests:
Sourav Ganguly (skipper) Rahul Dravid, Sachin
Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Virendra Sehwag, Shiv Sundar Das,
Wasim Jaffar, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan,
Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Tinu Yohannan, Ajay Ratra, Sanjay
Bangar, Parthiv Patel.
Also read:
Earlier interview with Parthiv Patel
'The stint I had in Australia has helped'
Mail Cricket Editor
