Ishant's replacement to be focus of selection

NEW DELHI: Ishant Sharma's fitness is likely to occupy the national selectors' minds when they sit together on Monday to pick the Indian squads for the last two One-day Internationals and the first two Test matches against South Africa.
The 27-year-old Delhi pacer will be reaching the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore on Monday to assess his left hamstring after he pulled out midway in the Ranji Trophy match against Haryana on Saturday.While the injury is most likely to put him out of contention for a spot in the ODIs, the focus will be on to find a replacement for the first Test as the Indian pace spearhead will be serving his one-Test ban.
It has been learnt that Ishant's injury is not very serious and he opted not to bowl as a precaution. "He felt some discomfort with his hamstring and decided not to take any chances. He was in constant touch with Vikram Rathore (selector from North Zone) throughout the Ranji match. At this point, it seems he should be fit before the second Test which is four weeks away," said a BCCI official in the know of things.
However, BCCI procedure calls for a mandatory assessment of any centrally contracted player if he suffers any injury. With Ishant arriving at the NCA only on Monday, it will be interesting to see who the selectors opt for as his stand-bye for the Tests.
Test captain Virat Kohli's fascination for pace is well known. But it will be interesting to see who the selectors opt for given that both Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron have been a bit erratic.
As for the ODIs, with the Indian seamers showing good control in the death overs and Ishant not likely to be fit, the selectors might not make any changes. However, Karnataka's left-arm medium-pacer Sreenath Arvind's name has been doing the rounds as a possible inclusion.