i3j3Cricket :: A blog for fans of Indian cricket…

A 15 member squad has been announced for the tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha.

The highlights have been the complete absence of the ’seniors’ with Sachin opting out because of injury. Personally the picking of Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina have been made more in tune with their recent performances in the IPL. Praveen Kumar keeps his place ahead of someone like Manpreet Gony because of his good performance in Australia. The only other new pick is Pragyan Ojha. He did look impressive in the IPL and I think on a turning wicket especially in Asian conditions he could be a handful. Also because the other probable contender, Ravindra Jadeja, the U-19 left arm spinner, has hardly bowled in the IPL and has shone as a batsman. The interesting thing is that there is not a single player from the U-19 World cup winning team!

– Sanjay

PS: Just checked cricinfo and found that Ojha was the selectors’ pick and not the captain’s!

I just missed Mohan’s post completely. Anyway he has been spot on except for Ojha.