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India have dropped Virender Sehwag
for the first three matches of the five-ODI series against England,
which begins on January 11 in Rajkot. The decision came after Sehwag was
left out of the XI that beat Pakistan in an ODI in Delhi earlier in the day. India gave a maiden limited-overs call-up to Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 203 off 221 balls in a Ranji Trophy match last week.
A BCCI source told ESPNcricinfo that this could well be the end of
Sehwag's limited-overs career. Sehwag has been dropped, said the source,
because "he doesn't figure in the plans for the 2015 World Cup". Pujara
has been brought in "to anchor the innings, especially in the wake of
new rules", which now allow a maximum of two bouncers per over and
require a minimum of five fielders inside the circle at all times, which
encourages more attacking bowling. The selectors have left it to the
team management to decide Pujara's batting position.
Pujara's inclusion was the only change to the squad that lost 1-2 to
Pakistan, which meant MS Dhoni, India's best batsman in the series, kept
his captaincy despite calls from former selectors for fresh leadership.
The sources said Dhoni's captaincy didn't go through much of a debate.
Rohit Sharma
was retained despite poor returns in ODIs of late. His last six scores
were 5, 0, 0, 4, 4 and 4. Since the end of the series against West
Indies in 2011, when he was the Man of the Series, Rohit has averaged 13 over 14 matches
with one half-century. Rohit escaped the axe primarily because of "lack
of alternatives". He might not have made it had Manoj Tiwary been fit.
Since his double-century against West Indies in December 2011, Sehwag has averaged 23 over 11 matches,
including a top score of 96. Sehwag is possibly seen as the weaker
fielder, which becomes significant keeping in mind the World Cup in
Australia.
Sehwag's replacement, Pujara, is quick in the field and has been scoring
runs. After his double-century that stunned Madhya Pradesh six days
ago, Pujara said he knew his time was not far away. "That [ODI
selection] is something that is not in my control," Pujara had told ESPNcricinfo.
"I have always performed in domestic one-dayers. I don't need to worry
about it. My time will come. One way or the other I will get my chance
to play in the ODI team. I just need to keep performing."
The bowlers were all retained after they successfully defended 167
against Pakistan on Sunday, India's fourth-lowest score batting first in
an ODI win.
Squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Gautam Gambhir, Virat
Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R
Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra.
Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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