Practice perfect for India

Dhawan,Pujara in Mumbai A squad to maximise game time ahead of England tour

The Indian selectors have unveiled part two of their effort to stymie Englands quest for thorough preparation against the turning ball before the start of the Test series. On Wednesday,the BCCI selection panel,chaired by Sandeep Patil,hadnt named a single spinner in the India A squad to take on the England XI in their first tour game. On Friday,The Mumbai Cricket Associations MCA selection panel,also chaired by Sandeep Patil,named only one spinner,leggie Sagar Gorivale,in the Mumbai A team that will face the tourists in their second warm-up game.

While looking to minimise Englands gains from the practice games,Patil and co. have spared no effort to use them to Indias advantage. The opening slots represent one of Indias long-term worries. The selectors have packed the squads for the warm-up games with as many contenders as possible. The India A squad contains the Tamil Nadu duo of Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund,and originally also included Shikhar Dhawan. With the match coinciding with Dhawans wedding date,he had to be replaced with Ambati Rayudu. But the selectors found a neat way to ensure Dhawan got to face the English bowling they picked the Delhi opener in the Mumbai A squad,as a guest player. They also included Saurashtras Cheteshwar Pujara.

Both the players will be special invitees for the Mumbai A side while the rest of the team will comprise local players, said MCA joint-secretary Nitin Dalal.

Pujara,who has taken over the number three slot in the Test team following Rahul Dravids retirement,welcomed the opportunity for match practice and exposure to Englands attack.

As my state Saurashtra isnt playing any Ranji Trophy game in the first week of November,this will be ideal preparation for me. I wanted to have match practice and facing England will certainly give me some confidence. Before playing the Tests,I will have some knowledge of their bowling attack, Pujara said.

While Pujara readied himself to face the English bowlers,his middle-order mate Virat Kohli was busy facing Ishant Sharma at the Ferozshah Kotla nets. On Thursday,both had been named alongside Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in a power-packed Delhi team for their Ranji Trophy season-opener against UP.

The MCA selectors,meanwhile,announced that Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan would play alongside each other in a Ranji match since the 2008-09 final,naming both of them in the Mumbai squad to take on Railways. Both had earlier announced their desire to take part in the Ranji Trophy this year,in a bid to gain match practice ahead of a packed home Test season. Last year,Zaheer had played three Ranji Trophy games before flying to Australia.

Story continues below this ad

For Tendulkar,who was bowled in three successive innings against New Zealand in his most recent Test series,playing a Ranji game will offer a good chance to find form. It is unclear if he and Zaheer will be able to travel to Jaipur for Mumbais second Ranji match,against Rajasthan; the Sandeep Patil-led selection committee has consequently named a squad only for the Railways game.

The 13-man squad,led by Ajit Agarkar,will also include Test hopefuls Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane,who alongside Tendulkar will offer plenty of muscle and experience in a top-order that is without Wasim Jaffer,who has opted out to complete the Haj pilgrimage. The squad also contains three spinners in Ramesh Powar,Iqbal Abdulla and Ankeet Chavan,with Harmeet Singh out with a finger injury.

Ishant confident

New Delhi: Ishant Sharma claims to have developed an away-going delivery ahead of the Test series against England. I have been working on the outswing delivery with the Indian team bowling coach Joe Dawes. I believe it will add a new dimension to my bowling, said the fast bowler,on the sidelines of Delhis practice session at the Ferozshah Kotla. In international cricket,people now know that my strength is bowling inswingers. So,I needed to develop a variation which would trouble the batsmen.