Indian team for England series picked by CricketArchive

---

Event:

England in India 2008/09

---

DateLine: 5th December 2008

 

The Indian team for the two test match series against England has been announced today and there have not been too many surprises. The two to have made a comeback to the squad are Yuvraj Singh and Pragyan Ojha, while M.Vijay and S. Badrinath have been retained in the team. There is also no place for the left arm medium pacer from Uttar Pradesh, R.P. Singh.

 

Yuvraj Singh had been struggling for form till before the ODI series against England where he cracked a couple of centuries to get back into it. In fact, one would have never realised that he had been out of touch, looking at him bat the way he did against the touring English. Pragyan Ojha’s selection may seem a little surprising to some, but with the retirement of Anil Kumble, it may just be a method of blooding a third spinner after Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra.

 

After M.S. Dhoni’s demand for R.P. Singh over Irfan Pathan, it was supposed to be interesting to note whether he continued to hold on to his spot, but the selectors decided to go ahead with an extra spinner instead. Surprisingly, M. Vijay continued to hold his spot in the team, even after the return of Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir was serving a one test match ban in the previous match, and Vijay had been his replacement.

 

The rest of the team picks itself, with Virender Sehwag slated to partner Gambhir, to be followed by the troika of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman. There will be a fight for the sixth slot between Yuvi and Badrinath, while the bowlers would be Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel amongst the pace men, and Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra, along with Ojha in the spin department. Dhoni will captain the team.