Irfan Pathan makes it into the Indian squad for Sri Lanka - Cricket News Update
Indian all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Vinay-Kumar-c2237 was ruled out of the tour with a hamstring injury.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Karnataka-c801 bowler Kumar was the obvious choice for the selectors when the 15-man squad was announced on July 4 but the injury has sidelined him for three weeks, denying him a chance to feature in the short ODI series starting from July 21.
After sitting in a three-year drought during which he played a lone ODI against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in December 2011, Pathan was finally given a break earlier this year during the CB Series in Australia and later in the Asia Cup 2012, but average performances
saw him being excluded from the initial list of the probables for the Lankan tour.
However, Pathan feels satisfied to be back in Team India, "Obviously, when I was overlooked initially, I was thinking about what are the areas I needed to work upon and was focussing on my training at the National Cricket Academy," http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-c64444 told Press Trust
of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
"I am pretty satisfied with the hours that I have put in at the nets and in the indoor sessions there. After this call-up, the focus will shift to the Lankan series," the Indian bowler said.
The 27-year-old player had expensive outings with the ball despite being preferred over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. During the CB series medium-pacer took 6 wickets (at 30.16) in 4 matches, while in 3 matches of the Asia Cup he bagged
5 wickets (at 32.40).
Both Jadeja and Pathan were later overlooked from the original squad for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, as Indian selectors are increasingly looking more towards specialists rather than all-rounder.
"I played 8 ODIs after my comeback and have got 13 wickets. I have scored around 100 runs in the five innings that I have batted. For someone like me, the more I play international matches, the better I will get," he said.
The Sri Lankan tour will kick-start with the first match at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota on July 21 and will run till Aug 7.
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