Related Links : Australia in India 2008/09 | New Zealand A in India
The Indian Selectors have given an opportunity for dashing southpaw Yuvraj Singh to resurrect his Test Career by naming him as the Skipper of the Board President’XI squad that will take on the Aussies. The four-day match between the Board President’s XI and the Australians will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad from the 2nd of next month. The Selectors have also named an India A Squad which will play a 2-Test Series against New Zealand A which will begin from the 28th.
The Selectors have given an opportunity to young upcoming batsmen such as Rohit Sharma, Badrinath and Virat Kohli to test their mettle against the Australians while Akash Chopra and Wasim Jaffer, who are on the comeback trial are the openers. Likewise in the bowling department, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth, who is returning back after an injury are included while rookies like Manpreet Gony and Pankaj Singh also find a place. Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha are the two frontline spinners in the squad while Parthiv Patel has got the nod ahead of Dinesh Karthik as the wicket keeper.
Dinesh Karthik, who has shown some poor technique in his keeping in the Sri Lanka Test Series finds himself out of reckoning as he doesn’t make it to even the India A Squad. Instead the wicket keeper’s post has gone to young Bengal stumper Wriddhiman Saha, who did make an impression during the IPL. Interestingly, the Selectors have mainly gone for youth with Suresh Raina leading the team. Yusuf Pathan and Amit Mishra are the only players with some real experience to be included in the 15-man India A squad.
Board President’s XI : Yuvraj Singh (Captain), Wasim Jaffer, Aakash Chopra, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel (WK), Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Manpreet Gony, Yogesh Takawale, Rakesh Dhurv
India A : Suresh Raina (Captain) Jaydev Shah, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Sahil Kukreja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashok Dinda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sudeep Tyagi, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohnish Parmar