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Raring to go
It's been quite a while since anyone heard of four new faces being inducted in the middle of a Test series, writes Kadambari Murali.
It's been quite a while since anyone heard of four absolutely new faces being inducted into a Test series in the middle of it.
That SS Paul, Dinesh Kaarthick, Gautam Gambhir and Dheeraj Jadhav have been suddenly pushed onto the mega stage is an indication of how badly the Indian management is shaken by the 342-run loss to Australia inside four days in Nagpur.
As for those who will miss out, it was waiting to happen.
Parthiv Patel, despite the presence of selection committee chairman, was a cinch to be dropped after a series of butter-fingered misses behind the stumps.
Ajit Agarkar was more impressive with the bat than the ball in Nagpur.
Yuvraj Singh, pushed up to open, looked unhappy at the top of the order in the short time he was there and his unusual bad run with the bat in the one-dayers didn't help his cause.
Aakash Chopra, even given that he was probably mentally traumatized by not knowing whether he would be in the team or not since Pakistan, still needed to overcome that mental pressure and score. He did not.
