The Charge of the Youth Brigade

India's World Cup win and the subsequent honeymoon period is well and truly over. The World Champions have been brought to ground rather unceremoniously after their humbling at the hands of a resurgent and ruthless English side. India were completely decimated in the test series and then through a combination of injuries, bad luck and some poor decision making, the one day series was also lost.

Now England are coming to India for a 5 match one day series where the Indians will look to regain their pride and show the world that they are deserving world champions. The team's preparation for this coming assignment has already been hampered by a number of key players in action in the Champions League T20 which has not allowed the whole team to train together. Injuries have severly blighted the Indian team over the past 3 months and the treatment room doesn't look like emptying any time soon. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan are the big name occupants of the treatment table and one day specialists like Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel are keeping them company.

The team for the first two games has been picked and the general feel of the team is that the selectors have gone in for a youth heavy team. Sreenath Aravind, Varun Aaron, Rahul Sharma are in the squad and are likely to don the Indian colors during the series. Ajinkya Rahane who was one of the few players to come out of the England debacle with his reputation intact has been retained and so has Parthiv Patel. Rahane and Patel will open against the English and will hope to continue the good work that both of them have been doing at the top of the order.

The most high profile casualty has been Harbhajan Singh. The 'Turbanator' has not enjoyed the best of form since the World Cup and the tour of England was disastrous for the offie. One thing that is worth mentioning is that the selectors have gone and dropped Harbhajan instead of the favored excuse of 'resting' a particular player.

A number of senior cricket analysts have mentioned that Harbhajan needs to go back and play some quality domestic cricket. He needs to find his rhythm and also work on his variations notably his top-spinner which can be devastatingly effective when used properly. Harbhajan's exclusion from the side can actually be fruitful for him as he can go back to the drawing board and iron out some of his flaws and work on his strenghts. It is importantt that Harbhajan takes this exclusion positively and puts in a sincere effort if he does that then there is a good chance that we might just see a revitalized and hungry Harbhajan who bowls an attacking line and has batsmen tied up in knots.

Rahul Sharma and Sreenath Aravind are the latest entrants in the national setup and will look to cement their places in the team. Aravind has enjoyed a stellar domestic campaign and was Karnataks' 2^nd highest wicket taker. His performance in the 2011 IPL where he scalped 21 wickets has also gone a long way in helping him break into the team. However the same cannot be said about Sharma. Rahul Sharma the leggie who resembles Anil Kumble as far as bowling style and variations go has had a great IPL season with the Pune Warriors but has not been so convincing on the domestic circuit. Sharma who turns out for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy has only 16 wickets in 9 matches at an expensive average of 43.12 and is something of a selection gamble.

One thing that has mystified a lot of people has been the fact that Pragyan Ojha has consistently been overlooked. Ojha who bowls left arm spin with a classical action and has 200 plus wickets in the domestic circuit has been a proven performer. His recent exploits in the county circuit have helped Surrey immensely and he has been one of the few Indian spinners who have thrived in English conditions. Ojha was overlooked for the World Cup in 2011 and that was a mystifying decision in itself. Ojha is a thinking bowler who possesses some good variations and also manages to extract considerable turn off the wicket. The reason behind his exclusion is something that needs to be investigated and is highly unfair to a player of his calibre.

The pace department is virtually unrecognizable with Aaron, Umesh Yadav and Sreenath Aravind coming into the side. Praveen Kumar will be without a doubt one of India's most important and dependable pace options however it remains to be seen how the others namely Aaron and Yadav fare in testing conditions and agains a quality opposition. Much has been spoken about Varun Aaron and his ability to hit the higher 140s consistently. One thing that the young quick has to remember is that it is not about how fast you bowl but more importantly where you bowl. He needs to concentrate on hitting the right lengths and also bowl to a field which can prove to be effective and also help in building up pressure on the batsmen.

Last but not the least, Why has Ravindra Jadeja been picked? Jadeja has an average domestic record and his performances in the international arena have followed the same average trajectory. He did play one good innings in Englan when he was instrumental in resurrecting the Indian innings after a batting collapse. However one good inning should not be the benchmark but Jadeja has figured in the Indian setup with an uncanny frequency and this frequency can also be attributed to his apparent closeness with the Indian skipper.

Jadeja is in the team at the expense of Subramian Badrinath who has been one of the most respected and also one of the most successful batsmen in the domestic circuit as well as the IPL. Badrinath has scored tonnes of runs in the domestic circuit and is also a proven middle order batsmen with assured technique who lends calm and a degree of balance to the side. A number of people will be well within their rights to conclude that Ojha and Badrinath have been unfairly left out at the expense of some average players and this might come back to haunt India at key stages of the upcoming series.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, S Aravind, Rahul Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar.