Left-arm quick may skip next month's tour to ensure he is fully fit for 2011 world cup
Left-arm quick may skip next month's tour to ensure he is fully fit for 2011 world cup
India's national selection committee is facing a unique predicament. When they meet tomorrow to pick India's ODI squad for the five-match series against NZ the panel plans to name the squad for the forthcoming South Africa tour too. But the big problem is the selection of Zaheer Khan.
Zaheer, who will definitely not figure in the ODI series against New Zealand, also plans to give the South Africa tour a miss, it is learnt. The speedster, who is down with a groin injury, wants to be fully fit ahead of the February-March World Cup. But because he is India's leading bowler and without him the squad will be a touch depleted, the selection panel doesn't want to give him the liberty of skipping the tour. "We will await the result of the fitness test to be conducted at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore," said one selector.
However, if Zaheer fails the fitness test and subsequently doesn't make for the South Africa tour, Vidarbha's Umesh Jadhav will replace him in the squad. The selectors are hoping to pick a four-pronged pace attack, which will include Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Jaidev Unatkar and Jadhav.
