Hopes ruled out of ODI series

Australia have suffered another blow in their bid to win the ODI series against India with James Hopes following Tim Paine and paceman Brett Lee home.

Hopes damaged his right hamstring during the first ODI at Vadodara and will return to Brisbane to continue his recovery.

Lee's elbow injury ruled him out of the series on Friday, a day after Paine broke a finger in the second match in Nagpur.

Yesterday the tourists suffered a six-wicket defeat in Delhi to go 2-1 down in the seven-match series, which continues in Mohali tomorrow.

Australia physiotherapist Kevin Sims said: "James has done everything he can with medical staff to try and make himself available for the remaining games of the tour of India.

"However, due to the compressed nature of this tour and his speed of recovery so far we feel now we have insufficient time to have James fully fit to take part in the remaining games.

"Therefore James will return to Australia where he will continue his rehabilitation."
Australia have called up Victoria fast bowler Clinton McKay in place of Lee, starting from the fifth game at Hyderabad on Thursday.

They also confirmed New South Wales all-rounder Moises Henriques, who made his debut yesterday, will remain with the squad for the remainder of the series.

Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said: "Clinton is a young, promising bowler who performed well at interstate level last season and has recent very good form for Victoria in the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 in India.

"He will be very well suited to Indian conditions and we believe he is another young player who benefit from the experience of being in the Australian team set-up during this tour. We also feel he has the ability to perform well at the international level.

"With Moises having played in the last ODI game and James Hopes going home, Moises will now remain with the squad in India for the duration of the series."

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Ponting for points system to stop ODI dead rubbers

The reinvention of one-day cricket has been a hot topic of discussion over the past few months and Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, has joined the debate by calling for a points system to give the format "significant meaning". Speaking ahead of Australia's departure for India for a seven-match ODI series, Ponting gave the example of the 6-1 win over England recently as proof that dead rubbers hurt the game.

"The way that one-day cricket is played at the moment with one-off series like this … until there is a points system in place then it might get to the same sort of situation as it did in the UK," he said. "We were 4-0 up after four games and all of a sudden there is talk of teams rotating players in and out and doing all sorts of things.

"So the important thing I think is we make sure that every game of 50-over cricket has some significant meaning."

The ICC is considering a trial splitting of one-day matches into two innings of 25 overs for each team, a proposal Sachin Tendulkar had mooted earlier. Graeme Smith and Kumar Sangakkara felt the ICC Champions Trophy would be crucial in directing the future of the ODI as a viable format in international cricket. Other trials in international cricket include hosting day-night Tests, which the England board plans for next summer if approved by the ICC.

Mitchell Johnson, the Australian allrounder, backed 50-over cricket to survive the threat posed by Twenty20 cricket. "Test cricket is number one for me but then it's followed by 50-over cricket," he said. "I prefer 50-over cricket [over Twenty20]. I hope it doesn't die, because I love the game."

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Dravid dropped for Australia ODIs

Rahul Dravid, brought in to shore up the middle order in bowler-friendly conditions in South Africa, has been dropped for the first two ODIs against Australia, a home series expected to be played on flat tracks. Both Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh made comebacks from their injuries, taking the places of Dinesh Karthik and Dravid.

Yusuf Pathan and RP Singh - struggling for form - and Abhishek Nayar, tried only for three overs in three games, have been dropped for Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel and the uncapped Sudeep Tyagi. Ishant Sharma has been persisted with despite his struggles in the limited-overs format.

The thorniest question of the selection, though, remained Dravid. Since his comeback, he has scored 14, 47, 39, 76 and 4 in five innings; the 39 came in a crucial 95-run opening stand in the final of the tri-series in Sri Lanka. It was expected that Sehwag and Yuvraj would replace Karthik and Virat Kohli, their original replacements, but the selectors put faith in Kohli.

RP and Yusuf have been disappointing and added to India's struggles in the last few months. RP, after his comeback in the West Indies, averaged 53.20 and gave away 5.91 runs an over. Yusuf, in his last 11 innings, reached double-figures twice, and in 30 matches overall has sent down 111.2 overs. It does not reflect his captain's faith in his bowling. The same applied for Nayar, who has been in the squad for three different series did not score a run or take a wicket.

Jadeja, Munaf and Tyagi, their replacements, all impressed during the Irani Cup and Challenger Trophy. Jadeja's 77, scored with the lower order in company, and Munaf's five-for got Rest of India the match-winning first-innings lead in the Irani tie. Munaf was the highest wicket-taker in the Challenger Trophy, while Tyagi's five wickets came at 18 apiece and Jadeja bowled 20 overs at an economy-rate of 3.7.

India squad MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra.

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Dravid's axe surprises Dada

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly expressed surprise over Rahul Dravid's exclusion from Team India for the ODI's against Australia.


"I don't know whether this is experimentation or what.

I don't think the selectors will experiment in a series against Australia," he said when asked to comment on the squad picked for the first two ODIs of a seven-match series.

"But I am a little surprised at the decision (of dropping Dravid). But it's a decision by the selectors and they know what is better for the side," Ganguly, himself a victim of selectors' decisions on several occasions, said.

On the ICC Champions Trophy debacle, the southpaw said, "It's sport and there will be ups and downs. It's important to support them (the team) when they are not doing well. I hope they will be back to their winning ways against Australia."

Having made a comeback to the one-day fold recently in the September tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa, Dravid failed to find favour with the selectors.

Dravid had a decent show since his return with 180 runs from five matches at an average of 36.

The seven-match series against Australia is beginning from October 25.

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