CT squad for India

Gambhir, Yuvraj out; Vijay
included in Champions trophy
squad

Mumbai, May 05
The Indian selectors named the 15
man squad for the Champions
Trophy to take place in England
from June 6. Gautam Gambhir,
who was mooted to open the
batting alongside Shikhar Dhawan,
was not included in the side, while
Yuvraj Singh too was axed from
the side following a poor Indian
T20 League.

Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik
were handed a recall to the side
while there were also call-ups for
pacers Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav
and Irfan Pathan. Vijay looks likely
to open the batting with Dhawan,
while Karthik will have to fight for
a place in an already strong
middle-order. The call to pick Vijay,
who has struggled to hold his own
for Chennai, ahead of Gambhir is
likely to raise a few eyebrows.
The selectors have gone for a
bowling heavy side with as many
as 5 pacers and 3 spinners in the
15. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja
automatically picked themselves in
the side, while Amit Mishra's
terrific performance in the ongoing
Indian T20 League was rewarded
with a call-up. In the pace
department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Ishant
Sharma and Vinay Kumar - all of
whom have enjoyed a fine run in
the Indian T20 League - will fight it
out to make it to the final XI.
Apart from that of the openers,
the selection of the batters was on
predicted lines with Virat Kohli,
Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and
Dinesh Karthik included in the
side. Karthik will also double up as
the back-up to skipper-
wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni.
Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan
and Virender Sehwag, all of whom
were not included in the 30 man
probables list announced last
month, failed to turn things
around and were ignored by the
selectors. The omission could
mean drawing curtains on their
long-standing ODI careers.
Youngsters Unmukt Chand, Kedar
Jadhav, Parvez Rasool and Ishwar
Pandey too did not do enough to
get their names in the list for the
tournament.
India's group in the Champions
Trophy comprises of arch-rivals
Pakistan, South Africa and the West
Indies while Australia, England,
New Zealand and Sri Lanka make
up the other group.

Squad for Champions Trophy:
MS Dhoni(Captain), Shikhar
Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina,
Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Rohit
Sharma, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan
Pathan, Umesh Yadav,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant
Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay
Kumar.
L