The 35-year-old pacer eased his way back into cricket by bowling 33 overs against West Indies 'A' at Shimoga. Zaheer followed that up with a match-winning effort at Hubli, bowling 32 overs and picking four wickets in the second innings to level the series for India 'A'.
In the Ranji Trophy opener, which was also Sachin Tendulkar's last domestic game, Zaheer sent down 30 overs in Mumbai's four-wicket win at Lahli. But that has apparently not cut ice with the selectors who have chosen to ignore the left-arm pacer for the two-Test series against the West Indies.
BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel did offer an explanation: "The Indian team is doing really well, especially the youngsters. Considering the long future tours of India for the year 2014 and keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup, the names of the senior players were discussed during the selection committee meeting. Still, the vote was in favour of the young players," explained Patel after the 15-member squad was picked on Thursday.
"This selection has been done only for two Tests, more discussion will take place when the teams for the ODIs are picked. At the moment, we are very comfortable and the team management is very comfortable with the selection and we are hoping for the best," he added.
The decision to leave out Zaheer at a time when the Indian bowling is looking shaky and inconsistent must have been a difficult one for the selectors. It raises a few questions which Sandeep Patil and Co can't answer because of a clause in their contract.
The questions being asked is that are the selectors looking beyond Zaheer? If they are, then has Ishant Sharma done enough to be seen as the spearhead of the attack? On the evidence of his current form, which is appalling, the lanky pacer may even struggle to get into the Delhi playing XI.
Is the captain not keen on having Zaheer around? Do the selectors want the pacer to play an entire domestic season to prove his fitness and form? If they don't want him then why was he picked for the India 'A' side when a youngster could have benefitted from the outing?
Another Mumbai player, Rohit Sharma, however has got into the squad riding on his consistent one-day performances in the last year or so.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja, who was the star performer in the Test series against Australia, has been ruled out of the series due to a shoulder strain.
The squad: MS Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma.
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