Harbhajan dropped from England ODIs

In the first selection meeting under the reconstituted panel, Harbhajan Singh was dropped in a bold move that hinted at investment in youth with an eye to the future. Quite a few youngsters like Sreenath Aravind, Umesh Yadav and Rahul Sharma have been included while Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar have retained their place. Ravindra Jadeja has also been retained. Strangely, however, Yusuf Pathan has still been ignored. As the team stands: Gambhir, Dhoni, Raina, Parthiv, Rahane, Jadeja, Aaron, Aravind, Praveen, Vinay, Rahul, Umesh, Ashwin, Kohli.


The exclusion of Harbhajan Singh has largely been seen as a step in the right direction. Indeed, Harbhajan has had a torrid time recently and he hardly did himself a favour by opting out of tests in favour of Champions' League t20. The message has been sent- if you want to hold your place, concentrate on test cricket. Rahul Sharma and Sreenath Aravind, two players who impressed in the IPL gets their opportunity here and it has to seen how they go about it. If there is one thing that we have learnt, it is that success in IPL seldom translates into success at the international level.


The good thing about this selection is the selection of Aaron and Umesh both of whom can generate some pace. But selection is only half of it, the final 11 matters. Our captain Dhoni( whom I rate ordinary) has a strange reluctance to field these guys. His common refrain after every match in England was that the Indian bowlers lacked pace, yet he ignored Aaron throughout, exposing his hypocricy. So although these faster guys have been selected, we will probably see the same standard fare of the Kumars opening the bowling.