Yuvraj Return to India Squad

Left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh has made a return to India’s ODI squad for the lone T20 and the 1st three ODIs against Australia.

The 31-year old scored 123, 40 and 61 for India A in a 3-match series against West Indies A and also scored 52 in the lone T20. Yuvraj also led India Blue to victory over Delhi in the final of the N.K.P Salve Challenger Trophy.

India will play 1 Twenty20 and 7 one day international s against Australia. But the selectors decided to pick the squad only for the Twenty20 and first 3 ODIs. Umesh Yadav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Mohit Sharma and Parvez Rasool are outside.

Senior players gives more option to selectors

The Indian cricket season has commenced with a bang. The ‘A’ teams from New Zealand and the West Indies along with the early Champions League T20 games have brought quite a few of the young and aspiring older Indian cricketers into the fray. 

He seems to have come back with even more vigour, receiving a scintillating century and 2 wonderful knocks against the West Indies ‘A’. Along with him the success of Parthiv Patel and Robin Uthappa has bring to the table more choices for the selectors.

The toughest task is going to be for the selectors. They had made a good concrete path to get young faces and it proved to be a success with the team winning the Champions Trophy in England. 

Giving the seniors another chance to stake claim to their lost position is a generous move but could cost the selectors embarrassing options when they chose the team.

The Indian batting for cricket’s shorter version seems to be rosy with lots of options, but one will have to also look at the correct combination for the Test side. Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay will need to constrict their technique a fair bit to be successful overseas and a few sessions under the watchful eyes of Gavaskar would be the best option for them. 

Former players can help the young aspirant and somehow this approach is missed out on because of being reticent. Gautam Gambhir, I remember, took help from late Parthasarthy Sharma and came back to form after that. Also, it was nice to read that Robin Uthappa has recently done the same with Pravin Amre.

The sad tale is to see empty stands during all the recent ODI and Twenty20 games. We have built such wonderful new stadiums, but they seem to lack comfort and a hospitable experience. Each hosting relationship should only be given a match once the basics are in place or else we will see the finish of the on-ground watchers and be dependent on eye ball figures.

Aus announced ODI squad against Eng Warner dropped

David Warner has been dropped from Australian squad for the ODIs against Scotland and England, while Mitchell Starc will return to Australia after complaining of lower back soreness. Steven Smith, who was part of the original 18-member limited-overs squad, has already flown back after a thigh injury.

David Warner has been left out of the Australia’s ODI squad for this tour purely due to his recent lack of form in this format, Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach, said. By his own admission, David would acknowledge that unfortunately he hasn't scored the weight of runs that he would like just in one-day cricket for his country.

Australia start the ODI leg of the tour with a one-off match against Scotland in Edinburgh on September 3 before taking on England for a 5 ODI-match series that starts on September 6 in Leeds.

Australia in England Tour Australia Five ODI squad
No	Name	No	Name	No	Name
1	Michael Clarke(C)	6	Aaron Finch	11	Glenn Maxwell
2	George Bailey	7	Josh Hazlewood	12	Clint McKay
3	Fawad Ahmed	8	Phillip Hughes	13	Adam Voges
4	Nathan Coulter-Nile	9	Mitchell Johnson	14	Matthew Wade(wk)
5	James Faulkner	10	Shaun Marsh	15	Shane Watson

INDIA VS ENGLAND FIVE TEST MATCH SCHEDULE

The tour schedule also sees 50-over world champions India, who beat England by 5 runs in the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston in June, involved in 5 one-day internationals and a one-T20 international Match.

INDIA vs ENGLAND FIVE TEST MATCH SCHEDULE
No	Date	Match	Team	Place
1	Jul 09 to14-2014	1 st Test	England vs India	Trent Bridge
2	Jul 17 to21-2014	2 nd Test	England vs India	Lord's
3	Jul 27 to31-2014	3 rd Test	England vs India	Rose Bowl
4	Aug 07 to11-2014	4 th Test	England vs India	Old Trafford
5	Aug 15 to19-2014	5 th Test	England vs India	The Oval