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| Zaheer Khan Not Available for Second Test Against England at Nottingham |
NOTTINGHAM - - It was a historical 2000th test match played between India and England at Lord’s Cricket Ground and concluded on July 25th with a humiliating 196-run defeat to India. The big defeat by the hands of England has certainly dented the reputation of India, which is ranked number one in test ranking followed by South Africa and England respectively.
India captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni confirmed that premier fast bowler Zaheer Khan who had injured his hamstring in the Lord's Test, will not participate in the second match of the series against England starting in Nottingham on Friday.
S Sreesanth who did not take part in the historic first Test at the home of cricket is likely to be the replacement for the injured Zaheer.
Now the question arises; will India bounce back to level the series in the second test scheduled to be started on Friday (July 29) at Nottingham?
Indian prospects to bounce back look quite miserable in the absence of ace fast bowler Zaheer Khan and star batsman Gautam Gambhir due to injuries. On the other hand the psychological impact of big crash in first test is not very conducive for India to fight back strongly in the second test match against very formidable and threatening looking English cricket team.
India’s house on the other hand is not in order. Several top players are not in the best of their health and two important players are all but out of the team for the second test match that is commencing today at Nottingham.
England pacer James Anderson is in no mood to underestimate India and believes the world No 1 Test team has the ability to make a strong comeback in the second test match.
"If you look at their team sheet, it is a daunting line-up. They had the misfortune of Zaheer Khan pulling up early on, but they will come back strongly," said Anderson. "But hopefully we can continue the good work in the next three games," he added.
Former Indian captain and spin legend Anil Kumble also of the view that India can pull back even in the absence of few important players. According to Kumble; India has done it many times in the past and they can repeat it at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
The lack of practice sessions and the absence of seriousness in the practice matches by Indian team have led to the first test humiliating loss, Kumble further said.
Final squads will be announced before the match from the following avaiable players:
England squad
AJ Strauss*, AN Cook, JM Anderson, IR Bell, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, EJG Morgan, KP Pietersen, MJ Prior†, GP Swann, CT Tremlett, IJL Trott
India squad
MS Dhoni*†, G Gambhir, R Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, P Kumar, VVS Laxman, A Mishra, A Mukund, MM Patel, SK Raina, WP Saha†, V Sehwag, I Sharma, S Sreesanth, SR Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh
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