Related Link : India Vs Australia 2007/08
Murali Kartik, the left arm spinner makes a comeback in the Indian Team after he was named in the Squad for the next two ODIs which are at Chandigarh and Baroda. Kartik has replaced Ramesh Powar who has been dropped for not being penetrative enough in the series.
It is learnt that MS Dhoni wanted a left arm spinner to counter the Australian middle order. Kartik may not have made it to the Indian team if Piyush Chawla wasn’t injured before this series. Murali Kartik, who is currently appearing as an in-studio expert on Neo Sports along with Michael Slater has come back recently to India after a successful season with Middlesex. Kartik has been signed by the county for the next season as well. Interestingly Michael Slater during a conversation during the second ODI was joking that the Indian Selectors might be ringing up Murali Kartik for a call-up to the Indian Team.
The 31-year-old Kartik has played 8 Tests and 30 ODIs with limited success. But it is his first class experience of capturing close to 400 wickets that has got him the nod ahead of Pragyan Ojha of Hyderabad who has been picked for the India A and the Rest of India teams. Murali Kartik last played for India in the Pakistan One Day Series in 2006 after which he was sidelined because of a shoulder injury. Kartik in his last few games was effective in bowling from over the wicket with a legstump line to the right handers which proved very useful in stifling the run scoring.
India Squad for the 4th and 5th ODIs : Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Yuvraj Singh (Vice-Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Murali Kartik, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh