Virat Kohli's elevation as
vice-captain of the Indian team for the Asia Cup at Dhaka,
from March 11 to 22, was a significant outcome of the senior national selection
committee meeting at the Cricket Centre, here on Wednesday. The committee, with
Krishnamachari Srikkanth as chairman, rewarded the 23-year-old Delhi
right-hander for his splendid work in the four-Test series against Australia and
also the Commonwealth Bank tri-series played so far. Clearly, Gautam Gambhir,
with an all-win record in the six One-Day Internationals that he has led, and
Suresh Raina (four wins and five losses from nine matches as captain) would be
disappointed, with the surprising development, coming less than 24 hours after
India's superb win against Sri Lanka at Hobart on Tuesday.
Kohli has played 82 ODIs in
42 months, scored 3,233 runs with nine centuries; a record that's embellished
by a stoical 35 in the ICC World Cup final against Sri
Lanka last year and a match-winning unbeaten 133 against
the same team at Hobart.
It took a while, in the course of a chaotic press conference, for Srikkanth to
explain the reasons for the committee's decision to name Kohli as vice-captain
to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“Hats off to Virat Kohli for
the way he played. We have to start looking towards the future. The selection
committee and the Board felt Kohli is future captaincy material,” said
Srikkanth.
He said medical reports
submitted by the Indian team physiotherapist advised against Virender Sehwag
and Zaheer Khan's selection. “We have selected the best team possible going by
the physio's report. Sehwag and Zaheer have been rested purely on the injury
count.”
Yusuf, Dinda in
Baroda's Yusuf
Pathan edged out Mumbai's Ajinkya Rahane, and seamer Ashoke Dinda (highest
wicket-taker in the 2011-12 first class season) virtually picked himself
following the committee's decision to rest Umesh Yadav. Out of action following
a knee injury suffered during Baroda's
Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana in November last, Yusuf Pathan proved
his fitness by playing four matches in the West Zone one-day tournament. He
scored 172 runs, including a 114 (78b, 6x4, 10x6).
Showed spirit in win
Srikkanth also took the opportunity to make his observations on India's performance in Australia.
“It was a very good match
yesterday. Everybody knew it was a do-or-die game. It was amazing to chase down
the target in 37 overs. It showed the spirit of Indian cricket.
“Unfortunately we did badly
in the Test series. We got beaten thoroughly, no excuses. If you look at the
overall picture in the one-day series though, I think we have done pretty well.
One match against Sri Lanka ended
in a tie, probably due to umpiring error. Otherwise, India may have qualified for the
final straightaway.”
The squad: Mahendra Singh
Dhoni (Capt), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir,
Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay
Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ashoke Dinda.
