Changes on the card in Indian ODI squad for SL

A jubiliant Indian cricket squad
With quite a few players staking their claim with consistent displays in the Ranji Trophy, the national selectors may opt to make a few changes in the Indian one-day cricket squad for the series against Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Sunday (January 18).

The last ODI that India played was on November 26 at Guwahati against England after which the international cricket calendar involving the team went for a toss in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack that happened the same night.

Quite a few Indian players from the team that featured in the fifth ODI, which also brought down curtains on the series, face the axe following splendid displays by others in the national championship coupled with their own indifferent form.

On top of the list of players who could make way for some new faces are the Pathan brothers from Baroda - Irfan and Yousuf - and Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Staking strong claims to make it to the Emerald Island for the best-of-five ODI series and a one-off Twenty20 International are two players from eventual national champions Mumbai - one-down batsman Ajinkya Rahane and medium-pace swing bowler Dhawal Kulkarni.

Rahane amassed over a thousand runs from 10 matches with a fine average of 68 to boot, while Kulkarni emerged the top wicket taker with 42 scalps from nine ties, conceding just under 20 per victim and with four five wickets in-an-innings hauls under his belt.

Both these players have already been part of the India 'A' squad. Pressing hard for a look-in from Saurashtra, who lost to Mumbai in the semi finals, are left handed all rounder Ravindra Jadeja and prolific middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara.

Jadeja, who bats in the lower middle order and bowls left-arm spin, accumulated 739 runs in nine ties at an average of 67.18, besides claiming 42 wickets, the same as Kulkarni, at 19.72 per scalp.

He also grabbed four hauls of five or more wickets in an innings, figures that cannot be brushed aside easily by the election committee headed by Krishnamachari Srikkanth as they continue their search for a stable and effective all rounder.

Pujara, with over 900 runs with a best of 302 and an average of 82.36 is another in-form player from the state which had produced Ranji and Duleep Sinhjis.

But with Tamil Nadu's S Badrinath already placed in the Rs 40-lakh bracket in the Cricket Board's central contracts and the One-day middle order packed with others such as Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and strong contender Rahane, it remains to be seen whether he gets in.

Comeback man Laxmipathy Balaji is another player who has stormed his way back into the national reckoning with his lion-hearted display after having been out of action over the last two seasons following a stress injury to his back.

The Tamil Nadu pacer grabbed 36 wickets in seven Ranji ties at a meagre 17.5 per victim, including four five wicket in an innings hauls, and to back his claims is his past experience at the international level.

Balaji faces stiff competition from the fit-again S Sreesanth and R P Singh, other than Kulkarni, to join the expected pace bowling combination of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel.

With Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir present, the selectors have no need to look beyond them for performing the openers' roles. Harbhajan Singh would once again be the man leading the spin attack with Jadeja as his likely support instead of Ojha.

The squad is set to reach Lanka on January 26 to start the series of limited overs internationals arranged as a stand-in for the cancelled trip to Pakistan.