Sreesanth, Karthik called back; Raina included in squad for second test

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 10, 2010

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Nagpur: The Indian selectors, who have been facing severe criticism for selecting an unbalanced squad for the first test against South Africa which India lost by a huge margin of an innings and 6 runs, have made three changes in the squad for the second test, with Suresh Raina being called up to the test squad while Dinesh Karthik and S Sreesanth also made a comeback to the team.

Veteran middle-order batsman VVS Laxman, who missed the first test due to a finger injury, has been retained in the squad but Rohit Sharma, who was included in the squad for the first test as cover for Laxman, has been withdrawn from the squad. Wriddhiman Saha, who made his debut in the first test, Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun were axed from the 15-member squad announced by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.

Wriddhiman Saha’s selection in the playing XI as a specialist batsman had surprised everyone and the Bengal wicket-keeper didn’t help his cause much with a duck in the first innings of the match. He, however, showed character in the second innings scoring a fighting 101-ball 36 but the selectors clearly did not want to take a chance again. They instead went for Dinesh Karthik, who has been in scintillating form in domestic cricket, after he hit back to back centuries in the Duleep Trophy final.

Sreesanth also made a comeback to the squad after recovering from a hamstring injury he had sustained during the tour of Bangladesh and he would fancy his chances of making it to the playing XI, especially with Ishant Sharma not looking his best in the first test.

But the biggest story of the squad announced for the second test was Suresh Raina. Raina, who made his international debut in 2005 and has so far played 87 ODIs, is a regular in India’s one-day and T20 outfits. And there is a very good chance of him making his test debut in Kolkata should VVS Laxman fail to recover in time for the second test.

India were crushed by an innings and six runs in the first Test on Tuesday, leaving Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men with no other option but to win the Kolkata tie to level the two-match series if they want to remain the number one Test team.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina.

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