The Hindu : Sport : Dhoni named captain for Twenty20 World championship

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Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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Sport

Dhoni named captain for Twenty20 World championship

G. Viswanath

Munaf in the team for England One-Day series

— PHOTO: AFP

SAFE HANDS: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will lead India in the ICC Twenty20 World championship in South Africa, seen practising at the Oval on Tuesday.

Mumbai: The National cricket selectors on Tuesday included Munaf Patel in the 15-member Indian team for the seven-match One-Day series against England.

The team physio John Gloster has given the green signal that the pace bowler was injury-free and match fit. The gangling speedster comes into the Indian squad at the expense of S. Sreesanth who did not figure in the three-match Future Cup series against South Africa in Ireland.

Munaf has made a remarkable recovery. A damaged ankle 10 months ago in South Africa and a lower back strain in the course of the tour to Bangladesh in May rendered a grim picture of his capacity to withstand the rigours of international cricket.

The selectors and Munaf’s team-mates have always believed that he has special qualities and he is head and shoulders above the rest in the domestic scene.

Munaf has played seven Tests and 22 one-day internationals so far. He was an automatic choice in the XI for the seven-match series. Rahul Dravid can now look forward to tossing the new ball to the tall paceman and expect him to forge an effective combination with Zaheer Khan. The seamer has spent time at the MRF Academy in Chennai, adhered to the regimen prescribed by sports medicine experts and the team physiotherapist, played matches and proved that he’s fit.

Munaf’s selection in place of Sreesanth is the only change in the Indian team that is picked for the matches in Belfast and Glasgow.

Irfan back

But the selectors did spring a surprise by picking Irfan Pathan for the ICC Twenty20 World championship in South Africa. The beleaguered all-rounder has done nothing spectacular with the bat or ball in recent times, but obviously the selectors feel that his big hitting prowess would bring quick runs. Moreover once Zaheer Khan requested the BCCI not to consider him for the tournament in South Africa, the selectors decided to opt for the experienced hand.

Irfan’s brother Yusuf Pathan— who likes to give the ball a powerful whack and bowl off breaks — too finds a place in the team for the Twenty20 competition.

As expected Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named captain of the Twenty20 Indian team. His deputy will be Yuvraj Singh. There is happy news for Virender Sehwag and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Left out after the match against the West Indies at Cuttack early this year, Joginder Sharma — who performed well in the BCCI’s first Twenty20 tournament — gets a chance to be part of an Indian team.

For the second time, the BCCI has decided to do away with the practice of a press conference. After the meeting that lasted for a little under one hour, the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah announced the team and distributed the photo copies listing the two teams.

The team for England series: Rahul Dravid (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar.