WI tour an opportunity for youngsters to cement place: Zaheer

Mumbai: Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan on Sunday said the upcoming tour to West Indies would be a good opportunity for the youngsters to cement their place in the national squad.

"It is a very good opportunity for young players to showcase their talent. It's a big tour and if they perform well, they can cement their place in the team," he said during a promotional event.

India will play three tests, five ODIs and a lone T20 game during their tour to the Caribbean in June-July.

Senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh will miss the entire tour, while Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will join the team only for Test series.

On the appointment of Suresh Raina as the skipper for the ODIs and T20, Zaheer said," I want to wish good luck to him. He is a very good cricketer and is performing well for the past two years. I hope he does well."

The 32-year-old pacer said Dhoni was enjoying a great run as a skipper. "He is having an amazing run. IPL, Champions League, again IPL and in between the World Cup as well. He keeps things simple. He doesn't complicate things much and maintains calmness. He is a very good captain. I hope that he is even more successful."

Zaheer, who has taken 271 Test wickets and 273 ODI scalps in 78 and 191 matches respectively, said he preferred to rest as he wanted to keep himself fit for the tough series ahead.

"It's obviously a hectic season ahead. We are playing a lot of crucial tours in the upcoming months. Personally, it's crucial for me to keep myself fit - that is the plan. To keep the niggles out and stay on top of it", he said.

"Cricket is my passion. I enjoy bowling," he added. On whether there should be a window for IPL, he said, "We already have a window. It starts in April and goes on around till May, so that's the window."

Asked whether his father, known to be a disciplinarian, allowed him to indulge in fancy hair-cuts when he was young, Zaheer said, "My father has always been a fan of soldier cut. It was the only hair-cut I knew while I was growing up."

Tackling injury issues not new thing: Srikkanth

Chennai: BCCI's selection committee chief Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that despite battling injury issues for the past one and a half years, they have been able to find replacements who have done well to ensure India's dominance in world cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar had requested to allow him to skip the full tour to spend time with his family and Srikkanth defended the champions' batsman on his decision. © AFP

"Injury issues have been there for the last one and half years but don't forget we have been able to find good replacements (for those injured) and India have been doing very well," Srikkanth told reporters after the selection committee meeting to pick the Test squad for the West Indies tour next month.
Sachin Tendulkar had requested to allow him to skip the full tour to spend time with his family and Srikkanth defended the champions' batsman on his decision.
"Tendulkar deserved to take rest and then Yuvraj Singh was not well with some illness, so we have picked the best available squad. We have analysed every problem, the injuries to the players and took a decision and that is why the meeting took very long," said the former Test opener.
"We got very good input from the coach ( Duncan Fletcher) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also present. So I am really happy to have picked the squad. I think we will do well in the ODI and Test series," he said.

The selection panel on Friday named a depleted squad for next month's Test series after an injured Gautam Gambhir and an ill Yuvraj Singh were left out of the 16-member squad, which has Abhinav Mukund as the lone new face.
Tendulkar, who was not part of the ODI team, has opted out of the Test series as well, leaving India without the services of as many as five top players.
Opener Virender Sehwag and pacer Ashish Nehra are already out injured. Suresh Raina was named captain of the ODI team in the absence of Gambhir, who aggravated a shoulder injury while playing in the IPL.
The Test team will be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had earlier opted out of the ODI series.