Mumbai: Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) announced squad of India for the Asia Cup 2012 which will start from March 11, 2012 & will feature Bangladesh, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.
India: MS Dhoni will be the captain & Virat Kohli will be the vice-captain in Asia Cup 2012 © Associated Press
The selection committee has dropped/axed/rested Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav & Parthiv Patel. Yusuf Pathan & Ashok Dinda will make their comebacks.
Virat Kohli has been named vice-captain after his impressive run in the ODI’s for India, he was the highest run-getter in this format in 2011. He is also the leading run-scorer in the ongoing ‘Commonwealth Bank Series’, his last masterpiece was witnessed in the 11th game of CBS when he screwed Sri Lanka by scoring 133 runs off 86 balls & wrapped-up the game in 36.4 overs.
38 years old, Sachin Tendulkar who scored 143 runs in the 7 matches during his 1st 50-over assignment after the world cup is also selected for the Asia Cup. He’ll indeed search for his 100th hundred.
Chairman of selection committee Kris Srikkanth said: ”The selection committee and board feels that Virat Kohli could be good future captaincy material,”
“Unfortunately Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan have been asked to take rest by the physiotherapist. It is purely on injury grounds both have been rested,” he said. “I can assure you that nobody has been dropped.”
The CB series is also the only ODI series the injury-prone Zaheer has been involved in since the World Cup. The decision to rest him and Yadav opened the doors for Dinda, who last represented India in the previous edition of the Asia Cup, in 2010. His selection comes on the back of a successful Ranji Trophy, in which he was the second-highest wicket-taker with 37 in six matches. Several other contenders for a fast bowling slot, including Varun Aaron and Sreesanth, are still recovering from injuries.
Allrounder Yusuf has recovered from a knee injury which cut short his Ranji season, and will resume his battle for the No. 7 allrounder’s slot with Ravindra Jadeja.
Among the fringe players, India have retained batsman Manoj Tiwary and legspinner Rahul Sharma, but have axed backup wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
India are defending champions of the Asia Cup, which will be held in Mirpur from March 11 to 22 and also features Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Squad of India for Asia Cup:
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda.
