MUMBAI: Harbhajan Singh has been left out of the squad for the four-Test tour of Australia, with the national selection committee sticking to the new spin duo of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.

India will play the first Test at Melbourne from Dec 26. Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who was a member of the Test squad against West Indies, makes way for medium-pacer Praveen Kumar.

Pace ace Zaheer Khan, nursing hamstring and ankle injuries, was named in the 17-member side but will join the team subject to match fitness.

He will be playing for Mumbai in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy tie against Orissa from Nov 29. “Zaheer will play a couple of Ranji Trophy matches and once he is fully match-fit he will join the side,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors, said.

“He may also go with the team as by then he would have played a couple of matches.” Explaining Harbhajan’s exclusion, Srikkanth said, “Unfortunately, we cannot help it as the team selects itself. Also, in Australia, you cannot have more than two spinners. Pragyan Ojha and Ashwin are doing an excellent job. Sometimes it becomes bad luck and sometimes people miss out. I’m sure everyone has their own time and space to come back.”

Harbhajan has been left out in the cold following his poor show in England, where he took just two wickets in two Tests and had to return home due an abdominal muscle injury.

He was ignored for the series against West Indies and has had an indifferent Ranji Trophy season so far, with two wickets in three matches.

Offie Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ojha, meanwhile, have been in excellent form in the series against West Indies, with the former picking up 22 wickets from the three Tests besides a century. Left-arm orthodox Ojha claimed 20. Wriddhiman Saha got the second wicketkeeper’s slot.

Squad: MS Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha and Zaheer Khan (subject to fitness).

CHENNAI: It wasn’t too far from being called the Ashwin Test. With nine wickets and a century, the stage was well set when the Tamil Nadu player was guiding India with the bat towards the victory target at Wankhede.

But with two runs to get off the final ball, everyone would have thought that he would run frantically for the second run.

That didn’t happen and there were a few raised eyebrows, but Ashwin, the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series, made it clear to TOI why he wasn’t scampering for the second during an exclusive chat.

Excerpts:

So, what was your approach in the last half-an-hour?

It kept changing all the time. When Virat was at the crease, he was looking for the shots and my job was to give to give him company. Once he got out, the scenario changed. I was expecting Ishant to play out the penultimate over, but that didn’t happen. The final over, with three to get, was really a tensed affair and my first job was to ensure that we didn’t lose the match.

But why didn’t you run just run for the second run off the last ball?

As I finished the first run, I saw the ball crossing over my head. I knew that there was no way I could reach the other end on time. So I put the bat in, completed the first run properly, and made an effort for the second. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to reach the other end.

Does it hurt that you haven’t ended on the winning side after such a brilliant Test match?

We have given it our best. It would have been fantastic if we had ended on a winning note, but then, I will take that. The final day’s action was really out of the top draw.

It was an excellent morning session when you and Pragyan Ojha ran through West Indies. Did you think the game could on its head like this?

We had decided to stick to our task. There was something for us in the wicket on the final day and we complemented each other well. Pragyan got the first five and I chipped in with a few in the back end. We have bowled well together in this series and will look forward to doing it in the future as well.

You showed your batting talents on Friday with a wonderful century. Will you be considering yourself as an all-rounder from now on?

I work on my batting very hard and try to keep improving all the time. But I am not interested in tags. My job is to contribute to the team’s cause and I am happy doing that.

Twenty-two wickets in three Tests, you must be on the top of the world right now?

This series has been quite wonderful and it’s yet to sink in. But this is only the beginning of the journey and I don’t want to take anything for granted.

Australia in Australia will be a different kettle of fish altogether. Are you looking forward to leading the spin attack there?

Before that, there are five ODIs against West Indies and I am concentrating on that for the moment. I know the Australian series will be a challenge, but I will take it as it comes.

MUMBAI: R Ashwin won’t forget the Mumbai Test in a hurry. While he will always cherish the fact that he became only the third Indian cricketer to score a Test hundred and take five wickets in the same match, he will regret not charging back for the second run that would have given India a heart-stopping victory on Saturday.

Scorecard | Match in Pics

Perhaps he wasn’t alive to the situation. Perhaps he froze in panic. Whatever it was, the 25-year old made a rare error of judgment. With India needing two to win off the last ball of the third Test against the West Indies on Saturday, Ashwin drove Fidel Edwards to long-on but shockingly didn’t display the eagerness to go back for the second run.

His non-striking partner, Varun Aaron, played his part by starting off in a flash and returning to his end. However, just like everyone else on the ground, he too was stunned to see Ashwin lacking the intent to go back to the striker’s end. When he finally took off, Ashwin was run out by a mile.

Some of the West Indies players just couldn’t stop smiling at their good fortune while the Indian dressing room bore a look of disappointment. It was an anti-climactic end to a dramatic day of Test cricket.

Chasing 243 runs for victory, India finished on 242 for 9 in their second innings to win the three-match series 2-0. “When I was facing the last two balls, I wanted to defend first one and then go after the last ball. It didn’t work out, unfortunately,” said Ashwin at the presentation ceremony. He was deservingly named Man of the Match and Man of the Series.

India had started in right earnest despite the early departure of Gautam Gambhir. Virender Sehwag lived dangerously but his blazing half-century set them on the right path.

Marlon Samuels then kept Windies in the hunt by removing Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli (63) and Ashwin (14) joined forces for a crucial 7th-wicket stand that produced 35 runs. Kohli was very much the dominating partner and he displayed fine temperament under pressure.

Again, just when India seemed to be cruising, Kohli fell to leg-spinner Devendro Bishoo, trying to cut. It was left to first innings century-maker Ashwin to bail the side out once again.

Ashwin seemed to be doing a fine job with Ishant Sharma before Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards came back for a final burst. India appeared to be within a handshaking distance of victory needing just 4 runs from 8 balls. That’s when Rampaul bowled Ishant.

With three runs needed off the last over, Edwards did a great job by conceding just two. He ensured that Aaron was kept at the striking end with three dot balls. A misfield at mid-off by Marlon Samuels on the fourth gave the batsman the chance to steal a single and bring the senior partner Ashwin on strike.

With two needed now from two balls, Ashwin got an inside edge on to his pads even as Edwards went up in big appeal. A draw was ensured and a tie averted.

With each one at the stadium on the edge of their seats, the final ball was swung hard to long-on. If only Ashwin had dashed hard for the second run, it could have been a different story.

Earlier, the day had begun on a calmer note. “It’s dead. The funeral is this evening.” That’s what Sunil Gavaskar said jokingly in his pitch report for television on the final morning.

MUMBAI: Just a few weeks after winning the World Cup, its man of the tournament – Yuvraj Singh – was diagnosed with ‘lung cancer’.

“He was coughing and vomiting all through the tournament. But we thought it was just the stress, and his desire to excel on the biggest stage… so we ignored it,” his mother Shabnam Singh told TOI in an exclusive chat.

“After all the excitement and the celebrations, we went for medical advice when the problem persisted,” she revealed. “To our horror, we found a golf-ball sized lump over his left lung,” she said.

The entire family was incredulous, to begin with. “We were devastated. We just couldn’t accept it. He has had bouts of cough for a long time; but we were told it was common allergy… to dust and pollution.”

Yuvraj Singh, a known fighter, was indignant though. “I didn’t believe the reports,” he said. “I felt fine, and deep inside, I felt good too,” he said, almost embarrassed to go into the painful details.

For over three months or so, as he went for one scan after another, and one test after another, he all but looked death in the eye every day. He had a smile on his face, though, and the faith instilled by his guruji, in his heart.

“We were all worried. But he would only keep telling us one thing. ‘I am a brave boy. I will come out of this,’” his mother said.

Finally, in October, his self-belief triumphed: the third biopsy confirmed that the tumour was benign. “Until then, we believed it was malignant, that it could be life-threatening,” Shabnam said.

(TOI was privy to Yuvraj’s condition for quite some time; but it chose not to break the story till now, given the delicate nature of his state.)

“We couldn’t take it initially; it was too painful even to look at Yuvi,” the mother explained. “It wasn’t just the fear that is associated with the dreaded word that gnawed at us; it was unbearable to see the way he suffered. He was in excruciating pain all the time.”

Yuvraj himself had gone into a shell. “He became quieter and endured everything in the privacy of his home; he made sure nobody got to know about it,” his mother revealed. He, however, never gave up hope or, indeed, on life.

He skipped the tour to West Indies, citing lung infection; he underwent rigorous treatment and, at the same time, gingerly resumed his practice. After all, he still had a raging, old dream: cement his place in the Test squad.

When he arrived in England, looking overweight and not in top shape, he was almost ridiculed; nobody knew the trauma he was going through or the fact that, for quite some time, he couldn’t even do basic drills.

Indeed, only his closest friends in the Indian team were aware of his condition or mental state. He scored a gritty 62 in the second Test; but sadly, he broke his finger and had to cut short his tour. It has been the story of his Test career.

For a long time, he had to wait in the wings as the Indian middle order was bristling with extraordinary talent; only when Sourav Ganguly retired, he got a longish run. Just last year, in Sri Lanka, when things seemed to be falling into place, he was hit by dengue.

Suresh Raina took his place, and scored a debut century; Yuvraj was back on the sidelines. “I want to be known as a Test player,” he had once told this writer. “It is my biggest ambition and I will do anything to prove myself there.”

Once the fear was banished from his mind, he began his journey back to life, and cricket. “He couldn’t return to full gym-work yet. He would be breathless in no time. But, he would just not give up,” Shabnam revealed.

“He has slept so many days with big needles in his body. I remember when he realized that he could get a chance to play in the Tests against the West Indies he was going to play a Twenty20 match for Punjab. The previous night he had done some tests and his arm was all swollen up. He couldn’t even move it properly.

“But he refused to listen. He didn’t want to lose another opportunity.” Sadly, again, he didn’t have a good run, scoring only 23 & 18 and 25 in the two Tests. His bowling, which had been the hallmark in the World Cup, was not even required.

The selectors unexpectedly dropped him from the third Test, choosing to give the youngsters a chance. The message was loud and clear: Yuvraj was not going to Australia for the Test series. It must have been the saddest day in his life.

As the day neared to pick the squad for the one-dayers against West Indies he decided to share a part of his agony. He had been advised total rest for a month, after which he is expected to be as good as new. He hopes to be back in shape and in form for the ODIs in Australia.

The worst is behind him, he knows; it’s just a question of cracking the last frontier in Tests: his mind. He has enough faith in himself to believe that he will do that too.

MUMBAI: The curator of the Wankhede stadium, Sudhir Naik was deeply hurt by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s sarcastic remarks about the pitch, which produced a thrilling draw on the fifth and final day of the third Test between India and the West Indies on Saturday.

Ashwin’s statement that he feel cheated with the Wankhede wicket due to its lack of bounce and turn after the visitors had batted for two full days did not go down well with Naik, who said instead of relying on pitches the young spinner should concentrate on his own bowling.

“I felt bad when Ashwin made the comments that there was no bounce and help for the bowlers and several newspapers carried it,” Naik said.

“These boys now want wickets to turn from the first day itself. On good wickets they should know how to make the batsman play the ball.

“If the pitch here starts turning from the first day itself, the surface is such that the match would be over within 2-3 days. Even then people would have blamed me for preparing such a pitch,” he added.

Ashwin, incidentally, took a career best haul of nine for 180 and also scored his maiden Test century in the just-concluded third Test.

Naik also found fault with the way Indian pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron bowled on this Wankhede strip.

“The wicket was hard since there was a bit of grass which was holding it up. In such a case they (Ishant and Aaron) should not have banged the ball rather than pitching it further up. Besides, you should also give credit to the opposition for doing well rather than critcising the pitch,” he said.

“If you analyse the match, the 39 wickets which have fallen were shared equally by the spinners and pacers. Both team posted huge totals in their first innings. The spinners started getting help from yesterday as I had earlier said. What more do you want?” the former Test cricketer asked.

Stating that this was one of the closest matches he had even seen in Mumbai, Naik said the home team lost the plot.

“India appeared to be winning comfortably while (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni and (Virat) Kohli were batting. But Dhoni should not have played the kind of shot he did on this wicket to get out.

“Ashwin too erred by taking singles of first ball of the overs and this allowed the lower order batsman to take most of the strike,” Naik summed up.