Zaheer, Sree ruled out of West Indies Test series

It just keeps getting worse for the India-West Indies series. It was already reeling under the weight of the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, boring cricket and low TRPs, now it will also play host to an Indian team without its best pace bowlers. Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth have been ruled out of the forthcoming Test series against the West Indies. Zaheer has a right ankle problem, and Sreesanth has a right elbow problem. Both players will require some time off for rehabilitation. Abhimanyu Mithun and Praveen Kumar have been named as their replacements in the Test squad. [caption id=“attachment_23743” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Zaheer Khan will miss the entire tour now. AFP”]  [/caption] Just a few days back, Zaheer had spoken about the tour being a good opportunity for youngsters to cement their places in the squad and by withdrawing from the Test matches, he has just given them more time to stake their claims. The period of rehabilitation hasn’t been set and it basically means that going into the England series, India’s top players will be without any real match practice. That’s one thing that might come back to haunt Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s squad against one of the better Test outfits around. It will also be interesting to note WICB’s reaction to this. So far, they have been very busy trying to sort out the mess with Chris Gayle. But surely, someone in the board would have glanced at the empty stands and wondered aloud. The absence of the fast bowlers due to injury will once again raise questions about the amount of cricket being played. Are such breakdowns going to become a matter of course in the future? Is that what we really should be preparing for? Given the tough season India has lined up, is a rotational policy even an option anymore? If India want to win Tests and prove their credentials, they will need their best fast bowlers and for that, the selectors will need to stop being simply reactive. They will need to plan ahead and show that they are true professionals as well.