Dhoni Opts out of Idea Cup

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has opted out of the Idea Cup three-Test series in Sri Lanka. Speculation had been rife that India’s one-day and T20 captain was considering skipping the Test series part of the tour of Sri Lanka.

In three-and-a-half years, Dhoni has played 29 Tests, 115 ODIs, 10 Twenty20 Internationals and the DLF-IPL T20 for Chennai Super Kings.

“He wanted a break and the BCCI acceded to his request,” said Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI. Dhoni had formally made a request to the BCCI officials here on Monday evening. He is reported to have conveyed his decision to Dilip Vengsarkar, Chairman of the national selection committee.

While there was clarity in Dhoni’s case when the five selectors met at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday to pick the Indian team for the Test series, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah did not cite a reason for Yuvraj Singh’s absence from the 16-member squad, though he had mentioned in a press release that S. Sreesanth was not considered because of fitness concerns. In the circumstances it can surmised that Yuvraj has been dropped, a clear setback to his Test cricket ambitions.

Yuvraj’s showing with the bat in Test matches, after his 169 against Pakistan at Bangalore, has been below par. Unfit for a major part of the tour of Australia, the selectors were not inclined to stick their neck out in favour of the Punjab left-hander, especially after his poor scores of 0, 5, 12, 0 and 32 against Australia and in the only Test he played against South Africa at Kanpur. One national selector said: “Let him make a claim with a strong comeback in domestic cricket.”

In any case, Yuvraj would have been a passenger with a middle order phalanx in Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Sourav Ganguly.

After serving a BCCI ban of five ODIs, Harbhajan Singh returns to the team. The selectors have opted for left-arm finger spinner Pragyan Ojha ahead of the young wrist spinner Piyush Chawla. The selectors seem to have retained Ojha in the team to ascertain his potential in the traditional form of the game.

Skipper Anil Kumble will have the luxury of two wicketkeepers — Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel. The Gujarat left-hander — thanks to Dhoni’s decision — has been recalled for a Test series after a gap of 44 months. His last Test was against Australia at Nagpur in October 2004. Patel also comes in as a third choice opener.

The team

Anil Kumble (Capt.)

Virender Sehwag

Rahul Dravid

Sachin Tendulkar

Sourav Ganguly

V.V.S. Laxman

Ishant Sharma

Zaheer Khan

R.P. Singh

Dinesh Karthik

Gautam Gambhir

Harbhajan Singh

Pragyan Ojha

Parthiv Patel

Rohit Sharma

Munaf Patel