Yuvraj Singh fails to make the cut for the President’s XI squad for warm-up tie against Australia
It seems the selectors have closed the door on Yuvraj Singh in the Indian team as they ignored him for the Board President's XI, which will play against Australia in a warm-up match. The selectors chose to award last season's Vijay Hazare Trophy best performers by including them in the squad.
Last month, while deciding the teams for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, the MSK Prasad-led selection committee decided to exclude Yuvraj Singh, who scored 372 runs at 41.33 with a strike-rate of 98.67 in his last 10 innings. Although that raised a few eyebrows, later reports emerged that the southpaw failed to pass the endurance test, which has become a prevalent practice in the Indian team of late.
But with the top 45 domestic performers selected for the Duleep Trophy, the MSK Prasad-led committee selected a fourth string 15-member team for the warm-up tie against Australia that had some of the good IPL performers like Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, and MS Washington Sundar, but they decided to look past the Punjab player.
Delhi-born Kulwant Khejroliya, who is being considered an exciting prospect with his ability to hit mid-140s, played seven List A games for Delhi last season, taking 17 wickets and was selected in the team. Odisha skipper Govinda Poddar and UP’s Shivam Chaudhary have also been picked based on their Vijay Hazare Trophy performances.
Punjab skipper Gurkeerat Mann, who surprisingly failed to make the cut in any of the Duleep Trophy teams, was also given a chance. Former India U-19 pacer Avesh Khan and Gujarat’s Kushang Patel will assist Khejroliya in the pace department. Punjab swing bowler Sandeep Sharma is also there in the squad.
Former India cricketer Hemang Badani, who was the coach of the title-winning Chepauk Super Gillies side this season in TNPL, has been named the coach of the Board President's XI.
The Australian team, which is set to arrive in Chennai in two batches on September 8 and 9, will play a five match ODI series against India. The first match will be played on September 17 in Chennai.
Board President XI squad: Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Shivam Chaudhary, Nitish Rana, Govind Poddar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sreevats Goswami, Akshay Karnewar, Kulwan Kheroliya, Krushang Patel, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Washington Sundar, Rahil Shah
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