JOIN USKrishnamachari Srikkanth’s panel had a brief meeting with the team think-tank on Thursday morning to review the first Test, which India won by five wickets with more than a day and a half to spare at the Feroze Shah Kotla on Wednesday, and to retain the 15 that had been picked for that match.
The selectors will have been particularly thrilled at the wonderful debut by offie R Ashwin, who took six for 47 in the second innings on his way to match figures of nine for 128 and the man of the match award. Pragyan Ojha’s six-wicket haul in the first innings, and a promising if somewhat erratic debut by pacer Umesh Yadav too wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.
What it means is that there is no place just now for Harbhajan Singh, the veteran offie who also went wicketless in Punjab’s first Ranji Trophy outing against Uttar Pradesh last week.
The selectors will meet again in Kolkata to pick the squad for the final Test, scheduled to start at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on November 22.
The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav,. Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma.