Former captain Sourav Ganguly was yesterday named in India's squad for the limited-overs international series against the West Indies starting next week, while aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was dropped from the team.
The 34-year-old Ganguly, returns to the Indian one-day squad 16 months after being omitted due to his indifferent form and a public spat with national coach Greg Chappell during the 2005 tour of Zimbabwe.
Ganguly has since played several Test matches and his return to the one-day squad comes after emerging as the top scorer in the Test series during India's disastrous tour of South Africa.
South Africa outplayed India 4-0 in the one-dayers before winning the Test series 2-1.
"Ganguly has done well, that's why he's here in the team," chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said after the selection panel's meeting in the western town of Rajkot.
Ganguly was India's most successful captain, leading the country to victories in 21 Tests and 76 one-dayers.
The normally reliable Sehwag had a disappointing tour of South Africa, prompting the selectors to remove him from the team's vice captaincy after the one-dayers.
Sehwag continued to be part of the Indian Test side, but again failed with the bat.
"Sehwag has to sort out his batting, he needs to go back to nets to sort things out," Vengsarkar said. "He's a good batsman, the break will do him good and he can soon be back in the team."
Allrounder Irfan Pathan, opener Wasim Jaffer, middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif and leg-spinner Anil Kumble are the other notable omissions from India's 15-member squad for the first two games of the four-match limited-overs series against the West Indies, which begins on Jan. 21 in Nagpur.
Vengsarkar said the Indian team should rediscover its winning form ahead of the World Cup, to be played in the West Indies in March and April.
``Winning is important for us,'' Vengsarkar said.
India squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Robin Uthappa, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh and Rudra Pratap Singh.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was