Team Announced

[Prudent]

New Delhi: Rock in the middle-order for over more than a decade, Rahul Dravid would not be their to take his customary number 3 position in the Indian batting line-up when the world number one side squares of with the second ranked south African outfit on February 6th at Nagpur for the first Test. Dravid had sustained a fracture on his left jaw during the second Test against Bangladesh, after which he was advised 3 weeks of rest, as the Indian selectors named a strong 15-member squad for the first Test. Besides Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth too miss out on the first Test owing to injury concerns. Yuvraj is nursing a fractured thumb while Sreesanth is nursing a back sparsm. West Bengal’s wicketkeeper and middle-order batsman Wriddhiman Saha and Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun would be the new faces to be inducted in the squad. Team: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha. http://www.zeenews.com/news599599.html

[urbestfriend]

MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, S Badrinath, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha.

[Karan114]

Dravid out :((

[Andy]

Gud selection. Badri must make it to XI in first test. Btw Karthik dropped??:nervous:

[urbestfriend]

No Dravid :( , It's too early to select Mithun , it would've been better if RP singh/ Vinay Kumar is selected. In any case I dont think Tyagi and Mithun would get a chance to play

[mhr123]

But there wasn't any offical statement which suggested RD wud be out for the test series..

[urbestfriend]

Why saha? Has he done anything worthwhile for selection? PP should've been selected as backup.

[EnterTheVoid]

http://www.cricinfo.com/indvrsa2010/content/current/story/446031.html

[yoda]

Why saha? Has he done anything worthwhile for selection? PP should've been selected as backup.

PP is a good bat, not really a keeper. I don't mind new guys getting a chance instead of the same old. Anyways, no RD for a critical series and that is a blow.

[graphic23]

This is quite retarded. No Kohli in either squad! WTF.

[Andy]

Why saha? Has he done anything worthwhile for selection? PP should've been selected as backup.

He hasnt done too bad. Scored few tons. But i wanted to see PP. Don knw whether his keeping has improved.

[Karan114]

No Dravid :( ' date=' It's too early to select Mithun , it would've been better if RP singh/ Vinay Kumar is selected. In any case I dont think Tyagi and Mithun would get a chance to play[/quote'] Yeah I don't think either will get a chance, unless Zaheer or Ishant gets injured. If Zaheer gets injured we may as well forget about the series anyways, we are already going to suffer without Dravid to face Steyn and Morkel from no.3. So Vijay to replace Dravid at 3 and Badri to come in for Yuvi at no.6. Maybe Mishra in place of Ojha but it seems Dhoni is keener on Ojha so probably not. Not really bothered by the other changes as much as Dravid though

[Karan114]

PP is a good bat' date=' not really a keeper. I don't mind new guys getting a chance instead of the same old.[/quote'] Yeah, PP wasn't at all impressive in that chance he got in the final Test at Colombo in 2008, and Karthik's keeping is dodgy. I too would rather see someone fresh get a chance to prove themselves (maybe they too will not be good enough but let's at least see).

[Lord]

Dravid out.thats why him n Lax should have missed the BD series:(( bad squad.Badri isnt a long term prospect.if they wanted someone to fill in for RD,could have gone with Kaif,whos in good form n also has international experience i would have liked youngster like Kohli or Pujara to be picked.they r our future players n it would have been nice to get them into the mix. not sure about Saha too.Karthik was doing a fair job

[urbestfriend]

I think Saha is EZ representative. As they couldn't select Dinda, they've selected Saha :winky:

[Guest DeveGowda]

I think Saha is EZ representative. As they couldn't select Dinda' date=' they've selected Saha :winky:[/quote'] Even i dont understand why saha selected ? Mithun too early..but Good luck to him (Vinay should have given chance over mithun)

[saneindian]

Has Saha been selected to ensure Dalmiya and co dont prepare a greentop to welcome Team India as their revenge against BCCI like what Mr. manohar had done at Nagpur vs Aus?

[achilles]

Great to see Badri, Saha and Abhimanyu Mithun in the squad. Dinesh Karthik has been a below-par performer for quite a while and picking Saha is the selectors' sign to him. He needs to lift his game. And Saha is the perfect pick, I feel. PP is a bit low of confidence and Saha will be a player for the future. Suresh & Virat are not the right candidates and don't have the kind of experience that Badri does, who has toiled for years and years and has literally fought his way into the reckoning. GREAT PICK to replace RD. Mithun is a surprise pick. Irfan really needs to lift his game if youngsters like Mithun are getting the call before him. Great selections :two_thumbs_up:

[thevortex]

A reasonably well balanced squad. Its strength as always lies in its top order batting. If 4 wickets are taken cheaply by the Springboks we would struggle to come back in the match. I like the strong message sent out to Karthik. Perhaps Parthiv Patel may consider himself unlucky but the selectors have simply selected a younger prospect in Wriddhiman Saha. He was a live wire behind the wicket and a confident striker with the bat in the shortest form of the game - not sure how he will scale up, but this is an excellent opportunity for him. If Badri does not make it to the first XI even in this scenario, I would be mighty disappointed. He needs to make use of this chance though. I would even look at having Laxman come in at No.3. He has always wanted to bat at that position. That may not be a bad idea and having him come in and guide almost all balls to mid wicket could be mighty irritating to the opposition bowlers. And he relishes pace more than anything. Somehow though, I dont see this being implemented. ________ Problems With Prilosec

[Sachinism]

Badri got his chance. Why is Saha there? I'd much rather have Karthik