Selectors stick with youth for Zim ODIs

MUMBAI: When Shikhar Dhawan was smoking the South African bowlers all over the park in Cardiff in the Champions Trophy opener, there were talks within the BCCI circles over how it had now become that much more difficult for Gautam Gambhir to return to the Indian team.

"Gambhir will have to do something extraordinarily special to stake a claim now," is how one senior official described the prevalent mood in the selection committee when asked about the possibility of where the former India vice-captain stood.

True to form, the Sandeep Patil-chaired panel once again chose to ignore Gambhir, along with Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag for the forthcoming five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.

In other words, when the new domestic season dawns, merely knocking on the selectors' door will not suffice. The discarded seniors will have to bring down the door to win their places back.

For now, though they have been asked to cool their heels and only those who have performed in domestic cricket, including in the IPL, have got a chance to prove themselves on the international stage.

As expected, captain MS Dhoni has been rested and the reins have been handed over to Virat Kohli. The young captain has been given a completely new-look bowling attack, though, as regulars like R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav have been given a much-needed breather ahead of a busy season.

Of the fresh faces, Haryana pacer Mohit Sharma, who had an exceptional IPL season with Chennai Super Kings, has been rewarded. Also making it to the 15-member squad is J&K off-spinner Parvez Rasool - the first-ever player to don the India jersey from the troubled state.

The selectors, however, haven't made too many changes in the batting department. Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have come in, while Murali Vijay, who's mostly been a passenger in the ODIs, has been dropped.

What the side perhaps lacks is a solid opener in case the experiment with Rohit Sharma is discontinued. Rahane does open the batting in limited overs, but on slightly helpful pitches for bowlers, like it happened against England earlier this year, he has struggled against incoming deliveries.

The selectors clearly don't have an option and even in Test matches the team appears to be skating on thin ice in terms of the opening slot.

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Shweta Pandey

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