Yuvraj, Zaheer and Harbhajan dropped from Indian squad for Nagpur Test

Stung by two successive defeats on home soil the national selectors on Sunday cracked the whip by axing veteran pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and batsman Yuvraj Singh from the squad for the fourth and final Test against England starting on Thursday Offspinner Harbhajan Singh who did not play the last match also found himself in casualty list as the selectors opted for a legspinner in Piyush Chawla and infused young blood by picking Delhi paceman Parvinder Awana and Saurashtra allrounder Ravindra Jadeja Zaheer Khan indifferent performance has been the selectors drop him File PicAFP Barring Yuvraj and Zaheer39s omissions there were no major changes to the squad announced by BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the Sandeep Patilled selection panel The selectors also announced the team for the two Twenty20 matches to be held in Pune December 20 and Mumbai December 22 in which Uttar Pradesh allrounder Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Awana were the two new faces Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan were left out and the Board explained that they were unavailable for the series quotI don39t want to comment on selection issues No one is happy when the team loses We are looking into it we are working on itquot said Jagdale Jadeja a hot property in the IPL and Awana were rewarded with a berth in the team for their consistent performance in the domestic circuit Under pressure to make changes after the debacles in Mumbai and Kolkata the national selectors however refrained from making wholesale changes to the squad As a result some of the other nonperforming stars retained their places while the two spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha despite being belowpar have hung on to their places Offspinner Ashwin has flopped as a bowler in the series so far but his unbeaten knock of 91 may have just saved him from the axe Jadeja39s inclusion provides the allrounder39s option to the team particularly after the middleorder batsmen failed to make much of an impression Virat Kohli has had a dismal serieswhile Sachin Tendulkar has also been struggling for runs though he scored 76 in the first innings Zaheer39s axing was on the cards as he took only one wicket in 31 overs that he bowled in the third Test and has a tally only four wickets in three Tests While Steven Finn and James Anderson swung the ball in Kolkata Zaheer failed to do so for India and was shoddy on the field Zaheer39s absence will mean that either Ashok Dinda or Awana would play in the Nagpur Test Ishant Sharma who also did not make much of an impact has been retained though his place in the playing XI remains uncertain Jadeja hit two triple centuries against Gujarat and Railways in the Ranji Trophy and was recently in the news for being the first Indian to hit three triple centuries Awana was among the top three wickettakers last season and has already got two fivewicket in the two Ranji Trophy matches this season Squad for Nagpur Test Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain Virender Sehwag Gautam Gambhir Sachin Tendulkar Virat Kohli Cheteshwar Pujara Ravindra Jadeja R Ashwin Piyush Chawla Ishant Sharma Ajinkya Rahane Ashok Dinda M Vijay Parvinder Awana Squad for Twenty20 series Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain Gautam Gambhir Ajinkya Rahane Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Suresh Raina Yuvraj Singh Manoj Tiwary Ravichandran Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Piyush Chawla Ashok Dinda Bhuvneshwar Kumar Laxmipathy Balaji Parvinder Awana