Yuvraj, Harbhajan back in Test squad
Mumbai : Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were Monday recalled to the India squad for the first two cricket Tests against England.
The new national selection committee, headed by Sandip Patil, at its first meeting here at Cricket Centre also included Murali Vijay as a reserve opener and dropped Suresh Raina.
Besides Raina, Piyush Chawla and Subramaniam Badrinath, who were in the squad for the two-Test series against New Zealand in August, have also not found favour with the selectors.
Manoj Tiwary and Shikhar Dhawan also might have expected a call, having struck form early in the season, but could not get the nod for the first Test in Ahmedabad from Nov 15 and the second in Mumbai from Nov 23.
Yuvraj, who returned to international cricket with the Twenty20 matches against New Zealand and then the Twenty20 World Cup after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, was expected to be picked Monday following an all-round performance for India A against the touring England XI here last week.
He also did no harm to his fitness by scoring a double century in the Duleep Trophy last month. The 30-year-old played his last Test a year ago.
Harbhajan, surprisingly, got picked as third spinner alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha. The 98-Test veteran has not played a Test since pulling out midway through the dismal England tour last year.
Vijay staked claim for a Test spot through good showing in the Challenger Trophy last month and a marathon 266 for Rest of India in the Irani Cup tie against Rajasthan.
Zaheer Khan was included in the team despite fitness concerns.
The rest of the squad selected itself. It is a good sign that Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar go into the series at the back of hundreds in their Ranji Trophy ties.
The Squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Zaheer Khan.
