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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday said that veteran pacer Zaheer Khan's omission from the squad for fourth Test was on expected lines but Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have made "soft targets."
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"If you ask me, Zaheer's exclusion was expected but I believe that Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh has been made scapegoats," Gavaskar commented about the squad for the final Test match in Nagpur.
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"If you look at Harbhajan's performance in Mumbai, he got to bowl some 20-odd overs (21) and also got two wickets. If India lost in Mumbai, it was a collective failure. Yuvraj also got into 30's. If you want to drop them then why not some of the others who have also not performed. Both Yuvraj and Harbhajan are soft targets," Gavaskar told NDTV.
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The legendary opener also seemed peeved with "attitude of some of the players".
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"I think a good idea would have been if chairman of selection committee (Sandip Patil) would have gone to the dressing room and spoken with the players who haven't played some good shots to get out. Also with the bowlers. The defeat should hurt them. But sadly, I saw some of the players joking around and playing football as if nothing has happened. That's not a good attitude."
About the selection of Parvinder Awana, Gavaskar said,"I don't know his domestic performance but if he has done well in domestic cricket, I have no issues. But IPL can't be a yardstick for selection in national team. India cap should be earned the hard way."
Gavaskar however feels that calling for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's head will be a knee-jerk reaction.
"A captain is as good as his team. I don't think we have any alternative of Dhoni at the moment. If you want to change the captain for the heck of it, then it's different," he concluded.
Photograph: BCCI