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Mohit Sharma,
who bagged the Man-of-the-Match award on his ODI debut during India's
tour of Zimbabwe, is likely to keep his place in the squad for the first
half of India's limited-overs series at home against Australia, which
starts with the lone Twenty20 international in Rajkot on October 10. Yuvraj Singh has done enough upon his return to be on the selectors' radar.
The national selection panel, which was retained during Sunday's BCCI
annual general meeting, will meet in Chennai on Monday to pick the squad
for the T20I and first three of the seven ODIs to be played against
Australia.
Mohit, the medium-pacer from Haryana who followed up an excellent Ranji
Trophy season with Haryana with an impressive IPL season for Chennai
Super Kings, has a reputation for striking early in the innings. It is
this ability, combined with his work ethic, that has impressed coach
Duncan Fletcher. The selectors are of the view he is ready for the
highest level.
If Mohit is rewarded with a place, he is likely to replace Vinay Kumar
from the triumphant Champions Trophy squad. Besides Mohit, the most
discussed player will be Yuvraj, who led India Blue to the Challenger
Series title on Sunday.
Yuvraj made his return to international cricket last September after
recovering from a rare germ cell cancer. He subsequently lost his place
in the side after some middling performances. He is now back after a a
prolonged fitness stint in France with renowned trainer Tim Exeter. Ever
since returning to competitive cricket, a lean and fit Yuvraj has
blazed away consistently.
He marked his return to competitive cricket with an astonishing knock of
123 runs for India A against West Indies A two weeks ago, and followed
it up with scores of 40 and 61 in the following one-dayers before
signing off the series with a quick-fire 52 in the lone T20. Though he
missed the Challenger opener due to a stiff back, he carried in his form
with a trademark 84 against India Red before scoring 29 against Delhi
in Sunday's final.
Yuvraj has appeared to be at his fluent best, thus forcing the selectors
to take note. The selectors have been viewing Yuvraj's resurgence as a
"good headache". They now have three choices: to bring back Yuvraj, or
to stick with Dinesh Karthik who had a decent Champions Trophy outing,
or to go with Ajinkya Rahane, who has been waiting in the wings for a
long time.
Two of these middle-order batsmen can be accommodated in case the
selectors decide not to go for a like-for-like replacement for an unfit
Irfan Pathan from the Champions Trophy squad. However, it is understood
that Abhishek Nayar's name will pop up during the discussion for the slot left vacant by Irfan's injury.
Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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