Varun Aaron will not be a part of the India vs Sri Lanka series anymore after sustaining an injury during the first ODI in Cuttack. All-rounder Stuart Binny will take the fast bowler's place.
Aaron showed impressive pace in his first four overs against Sri Lanka, even if he did not take any wickets, but a quadriceps muscle strain in the first ball of the fifth over put paid to hopes of the pacer making a case for inclusion not only to the tour of Australia, but the ICC Cricket World Cup as well, with performances on the field.
"Varun Aaron is injured, and he has been replaced by Stuart Binny in the Indian team for the second and third games of the India vs Sri Lanka ODI Series 2014," said BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel in a statement on the Indian cricket board's official website.
Binny will now look to make full use of the opportunity given to him, after not quite grasping the previous ones. The Karnataka all-rounder did impress in the series against Bangladesh, but has not caught the eye too much since.
The first task will be to get a place in the playing XI, and once or if he does that Binny will hope to make an impression both with the bat and ball.
India have a couple of spinning all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel in their lineup, and Binny will want to stand out with his medium pacers and ability to tonk the ball towards the end of the innings.
The selection was made during a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday, a meeting in which the selectors were also scheduled to pick the squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs against Sri Lanka.
More importantly, the team for the Test series in Australia was also supposed to be picked, with the most intriguing of those selections being the third opener – thought to be a battle between Virender Sehwag and the in-form KL Rahul.
However, the BCCI released a statement saying the selection had been postponed.
"The meeting of the All-India Senior Selection Committee to pick the Indian team for the last two ODIs of the ongoing series, and the side for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, has been postponed," added the statement by Patel.
