Cheteshwar Pujara replaces Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth makes a comeback
Mumbai : India’s cricket selectors on Monday replaced out-of form Yuvraj Singh with prolific scorer Cheteshwar Pujara in the 15-member squad for the two Tests against Australia.
Yuvraj will now be leading the Rest of India squad against Mumbai in the Irani Trophy match.
Pujara, Saurashtra’s middle order batsman, has been successful in domestic cricket in the last few years. He will also play in the three-day tour match between the Indian Board President’s XI and Australia, in Chandigarh from September 25-27.
Yuvraj missed the second Test against Sri Lanka in July due to fever and could not make the squad for the third Test after his replacement Suresh Raina hit a century on debut.
Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh have recovered from their injuries and are back in the squad.
Temperamental fast bowler Sreesanth, who was also hit by an injury in Sri Lanka and was ruled out of the tour before the start of the two-Test series after his knee gave way, also found a place in the side.
The first Test is in Mohali from October 1-5, while the second will be played in Bangalore from October 9-13.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Rest of India (for Irani Trophy): Yuvraj Singh (captain), Abhinav Mukund, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Saurabh Tiwary, Parthiv Patel, Piyush Chawla, R.Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey, Abhimanyu Mithun and Ravindra Jadeja.
