Tweet
NEW DELHI (AP) — Injuries to some of India's top cricketers have triggered a renewed club vs. country debate as the India cricket board on Friday named Suresh Raina captain for limited-overs matches in the West Indies.
Raina takes over from Gautam Gambhir, who was ruled out of the tour due to a shoulder injury.
Gambhir, who led India to a 5-0 win over New Zealand in a home one-day series last year, had been named to lead in one Twenty20 game and five one-day internationals in the absence of several senior players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But an injury that he carried through the Indian Premier League season forced him to miss the Caribbean tour.
Several others also played in the IPL but were either injured or rested for international fixtures raising concerns over changing priorities.
Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have all been allowed to miss matches against the West Indies, despite turning out in the IPL for their respective teams.
The Indian media speculated about the extent of Gambhir's right shoulder injury and whether he could have played for India if he had abstained from playing in the lucrative IPL, in which he leads Kolkata Knight Riders.
Gambhir, who was the costliest player in the IPL auction this year at $2.4 million, is reported to have sustained the injury during the World Cup final against Sri Lanka last month while taking a catch.
He aggravated it during Kolkata's last IPL league game against Mumbai Indians but went on to play in a later knockout game.
"I played with discomfort without realizing the gravity of my injury," Gambhir was quoted as saying in daily newspaper Hindustan Times. "As a leader, my team needed me, but to say I preferred club over country is ridiculous."
Gambhir's opening partner in test matches, Virender Sehwag, had earlier decided to have shoulder surgery immediately after his team, Delhi Daredevils, fell out of contention for a place in the IPL knockout rounds.
Sehwag had surgery in London and was ruled out of the tour of the West Indies, raising questions over the timing of the operation.
Young batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who played in India's last test series in South Africa, picked up a knee injury playing for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL and could not be considered for the tests in Caribbean.
There have also been instances of foreign players giving preference to the IPL over other forms of the game.
There was a controversy over former West Indies captain Chris Gayle's participation in the IPL immediately after undergoing rehab for a side strain that had ruled him out of the first few limited-overs matches at home against Pakistan.
The West Indies Cricket Board reluctantly allowed Gayle to participate in the IPL even as Pakistan's tour of the West Indies continued.
"The WICB does not accept Gayle's reason for making himself unavailable but as he has already clearly made his choice and has traveled to India, the WICB does not wish to stand in his way," the board had said after Gayle joined Bangalore Royal Challengers as a replacement for Australian pace bowler Dirk Nannes.
Sri Lanka bowler Lasith Malinga's relations with his cricket board were also put to the test when he was asked to return home from the IPL for knee-injury rehabilitation ahead of test matches in England, but the pace bowler instead announced his retirement from test cricket.
"My right knee is getting weaker each day, I have a long-standing degenerative condition that I need to carefully manage," Malinga said. "I love playing for Sri Lanka but I'm not sure if my knee will inflame again."
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials
Raina takes over from Gautam Gambhir, who was ruled out of the tour due to a shoulder injury.
Gambhir, who led India to a 5-0 win over New Zealand in a home one-day series last year, had been named to lead in one Twenty20 game and five one-day internationals in the absence of several senior players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But an injury that he carried through the Indian Premier League season forced him to miss the Caribbean tour.
Several others also played in the IPL but were either injured or rested for international fixtures raising concerns over changing priorities.
Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have all been allowed to miss matches against the West Indies, despite turning out in the IPL for their respective teams.
The Indian media speculated about the extent of Gambhir's right shoulder injury and whether he could have played for India if he had abstained from playing in the lucrative IPL, in which he leads Kolkata Knight Riders.
Gambhir, who was the costliest player in the IPL auction this year at $2.4 million, is reported to have sustained the injury during the World Cup final against Sri Lanka last month while taking a catch.
He aggravated it during Kolkata's last IPL league game against Mumbai Indians but went on to play in a later knockout game.
"I played with discomfort without realizing the gravity of my injury," Gambhir was quoted as saying in daily newspaper Hindustan Times. "As a leader, my team needed me, but to say I preferred club over country is ridiculous."
Gambhir's opening partner in test matches, Virender Sehwag, had earlier decided to have shoulder surgery immediately after his team, Delhi Daredevils, fell out of contention for a place in the IPL knockout rounds.
Sehwag had surgery in London and was ruled out of the tour of the West Indies, raising questions over the timing of the operation.
Young batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who played in India's last test series in South Africa, picked up a knee injury playing for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL and could not be considered for the tests in Caribbean.
There have also been instances of foreign players giving preference to the IPL over other forms of the game.
There was a controversy over former West Indies captain Chris Gayle's participation in the IPL immediately after undergoing rehab for a side strain that had ruled him out of the first few limited-overs matches at home against Pakistan.
The West Indies Cricket Board reluctantly allowed Gayle to participate in the IPL even as Pakistan's tour of the West Indies continued.
"The WICB does not accept Gayle's reason for making himself unavailable but as he has already clearly made his choice and has traveled to India, the WICB does not wish to stand in his way," the board had said after Gayle joined Bangalore Royal Challengers as a replacement for Australian pace bowler Dirk Nannes.
Sri Lanka bowler Lasith Malinga's relations with his cricket board were also put to the test when he was asked to return home from the IPL for knee-injury rehabilitation ahead of test matches in England, but the pace bowler instead announced his retirement from test cricket.
"My right knee is getting weaker each day, I have a long-standing degenerative condition that I need to carefully manage," Malinga said. "I love playing for Sri Lanka but I'm not sure if my knee will inflame again."
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials
Comment