In a stern message to non-performing veterans, the National selectors on Sunday dropped Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh from the team for the fourth and final Test against England at Nagpur from December 13.
Good showing in domestic cricket was rewarded when Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Delhi fast bowler Parvinder Awana and Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Bhuvaneshwar Kumar were picked for the bigger league. Jadeja and Awana made it to the Test team while Bhuvaneshwar got into the squad for the T20 series.
Zaheer, according to Board Secretary Sanjay Jagdale, and Virender Sehwag did not figure in the team for the T20 matches because they were “not available.”
Zaheer had fared poorly, claiming four wickets for 213 runs in three Tests while Harbhajan had looked off-colour in the only Test at Mumbai, claiming two tail-end wickets as India lost the match.
Yuvraj faced the axe for his abysmal show at Mumbai (0 and 8) and Kolkata (32 and 11) after an encouraging return to Test cricket at Ahmedabad with a knock of 74.
Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Piyush Chawla finds a place in the scheme of things where a leg-spinner was needed to add variety to the spin attack. He has played two Tests in six years (against England at Mohali in 2006) and South Africa at Kanpur (2008) and picked three wickets.
The teams: For Nagpur Test: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashoke Dinda, Murali Vijay and Parvinder Awana.
For T20 Series: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Ashoke Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Laxmipathy Balaji and Parvinder Awana.
