India Tour of West Indies 2011
Tendulkar, Gambhir and Yuvraj are out for the entire tour of West Indies. However some of the young performers get the break.
Also Read: India Tour Of West Indies 2011 – Complete Schedule
India already rested some big players ahead of the Windies tour for the limited over cricket. But now, they suffer a setback as Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh are set to miss the entire tour. Tendulkar wishes to spend some time with his family, whereas, shoulder injuries to Virender Sehwag and Gambhir, respiratory infection to Yuvraj has kept all the four out of the entire tour. Adding to further injury problems, Chesteshwar Pujara failed to make it to the test side, following his knee injury which he picked up in the recent IPL event making him unavailable for the entire test series. This might prove fatal for him as he was fighting hard to cement his place in the test side. Meanwhile, this will be the first instance where Sachin Tendulkar will be out of action for the entire test series. The last time Tendulkar was unavailable for the whole test series was back in 2006 in the West Indies.
However, some new faces (making their debut) and players trying to get into the team will be getting a chance to grab the much awaited opportunity. Suresh Raina will be captaining the Indian side for the second time in the absence of Gambhir as Dhoni is rested for the limited over series. Raina last captained the side in Sri- Lanka in a tri series. Manoj Tiwary and Shikhar Dhawan will get a chance to play their 2nd ODI respectively. Badrinath returned to the Test Squad.
But the biggest news remained with the new faces in test cricket making their debut. Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund are the two most certain to open with Murali Vijay in Tests.
The new face Mukund, aged 21, has an impressive first class record. The young lad has an average of above 60 in 40 matches with 13 centuries, including a triple ton.
However, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman will add experience to the test squad. Other players who are making their comeback include Munaf Patel and Amit Mishra. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan will lead the bowling attack with support from Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth. Parthiv Patel will be the backup keeper for Dhoni in Test side, replacing Wriddhiman Saha. Rohit Sharma and Vinay Kumar too make an ODI comeback.
India will have to do without the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Gambhir and Ashish Nehra in ODIs. The real test will be playing the TESTS, without Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir. However, it is a big break for the players who have been handed a golden opportunity to impress the selectors and utilize their chance to get into the Indian Team.
Limited Overs Squad: Suresh Raina (Capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (V Capt), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.
Test Cricket Squad: MS Dhoni (Capt), VVS Laxman (V Capt), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.
Tags: Cricket, Gautam Gambhir, India, Indian Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, West Indies, Yuvraj Singh
