By BV Swagath
The National Selectors have finally taken the move by axing the struggling opener Virender Sehwag from the Squad named to play the first three ODIs against England. Sehwag, who is only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to score a double century in ODIs has been struggling to score anything significant in the 2012/13 and his axing, seemed to be inevitable after failures against Pakistan.
No.3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been given a maiden call in the ODI Squad. Pujara had a wonderful time in the Test Series against England scoring a double century and a century in the 4-match series. With the other fancy young strokemakers failing to deliver for India on a consistent basis, the Selectors have looked up to Pujara to provide the much needed stability.
Rohit Sharma survived from getting dropped despite a string of low scores. It looks like the Selectors have kept their faith in his enormous talent. It is learnt that Rohit would have been dropped if Manoj Tiwary had not been injured. Another story making the rounds is that Virender Sehwag could have ended his ODI career with this. The Selectors seem to be clearly having their eyes on the 2015 World Cup and probably do not have Sehwag in their scheme of things.
India have made just the one change of Pujara coming in for Sehwag. The Selectors have been impressed with the new ball duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed who keep their places. The first India-England ODI is on the 11th at Rajkot.
India Squad for first three ODIs: MS Dhoni (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra
