Kolkata : India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s faith in Yuvraj Singh failed to convince the selectors, who replaced the out-of-form left-handed batsman with Rohit Sharma in the 15-member squad for the third cricket Test against the West Indies in Mumbai from Nov 22.
The selector’s decision to drop Yuvraj came minutes after Dhoni backed the flamboyant batsman to find his form in Test cricket. The rest of the squad was unchanged.
Yuvraj has not been among the runs in the ongoing series against the West Indies and his customary weaknesses against the short ball showed as he got hit by a Fidel Edwards delivery in the first innings of the Kolkata Test at the Eden Gardens here.
Rohit has performed consistently in the domestic circuit and scored 175 and 100 in Mumbai’s first two games of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season against Railways and Rajasthan.
“Yes, he (Yuvraj) is going through a tough phase but it’s important to show confidence in him. We all know he is talented. He has played really well against all the big bowlers especially in the ODI format which means he has talent to do well in Test formats as well,” said Dhoni.
The Indian captain said it becomes very difficult for a player like Yuvraj to back himself being in and out of the side.
“It’s very difficult to back yourself. You have that bit of tentativeness. It’s a bit tough on him. But hopefully he will recover and do well for India,” he said.
The Indian squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma and Varun Aaron
IANS
