Mumbai’s Irani Cup squad should have been of particular interest to Michael Clarke, says a report in The DNA, adding that the Australian skipper may have allowed himself a grin, for a certain Zaheer Khan does not feature in the 15. Zaheer’s absence from the Irani tie has cast a doubt over his availability for the four-Test series against Australia, starting with the first match in Chennai on February 22.
Mumbai made two changes to the 15-men squad that won the Ranji final by an innings and 125 runs in under three days against Saurashtra, bringing in Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma for Nikhil Patil Jr. and Sushant Marathe. “Zaheer is not yet fit and it seems he would need at least three weeks to regain fitness,” informed Mumbai Cricket Association’s secretary Nitin Dalal. India’s pace spearhead was injured during Mumbai’s Ranji league game against Gujarat, and has since then been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy. It is reliably learnt that he has been training indoors and hasn’t started bowling yet.
Zaheer, in recent times, hasn’t made for a pleasing visual. And with every series he misses (or breaks down in) that uncomfortable question crops up: how long will he be around?
Meanwhile a report in The Times Of India adds that there is a big question mark over India's leading pace bowlers Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav making it to the national team for the first two of the four-match Test series against Australia starting on February 22. Zaheer is yet to recover from the calf-injury that left him stranded during one of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy league matches last month.
“On Wednesday, the bowler was at Bangalore's National Cricket Academy (NCA). Reports from the academy suggest that he has been advised "some more rest" before he regains full fitness (approximately two weeks).The injury has ruled Zaheer out of the Mumbai squad for the Irani Trophy against Rest of India starting February 6, and the two warm-up matches against the visiting Australians who will arrive next month,” says the report.
Yadav, suffering from a lower-back stress injury, missed the last three of the four Tests against England and is still recovering. The youngster from Nagpur is a serious case-study for someone who has been mercilessly over-bowled in the last one year. Yadav played the three-Test series against the West Indies in November 2011, flew to Australia in early 2012 for the four-Test series and the ODIs, played the Indian Premier League which was followed by the two-Test series against New Zealand, the Twenty20 Champions League and finally the first Test against England in Ahmedabad after which he broke down.