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Harbhajan, Murali
Kartik back in the Test Squad |
 The
two inform spinners - Harbhajan Singh and Murali
Kartik as expected have forced their way back in
the Test Squad. The National Selection Committee
headed by Dilip Vengsarkar sat along with
Captain Anil Kumble and the Convenor of
Selectors Niranjan Shah at the BCCI Centre in
Mumbai to name a 14-man squad for the First and
the Second Test against Pakistan.
There is no place for Virender Sehwag in the
squad despite his tremendous record against
Pakistan as the Selectors were not inclined to
disturb the successful opening combination of
Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer. Same is the
case with Gautam Gambhir who has missed out. The
big comeback in the team is for Harbhajan Singh
and Murali Kartik, who have been outstanding in
the recent One Dayers and Twenty20 matches.
India have picked seven specialist batsmen
including Yuvraj Singh who is likely to miss out
in the final XI. The Vice-Captain of the side is
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Captain of the Indian
One Day team. Along with the three frontline
spinners including Captain Anil Kumble, the
Selectors have picked three fast bowlers in
Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Sreesanth. The squad
doesn't have any surprises in store with all the
players selecting themselves through their
performances. Like for instance, Dinesh Karthik
has retained his place as he had done well ever
since he was given the opportunity to open in
South Africa. He has found successes on the
tours of Bangladesh and England and although his
One Day performances have been lukewarm, his
Test scores are good enough to retain him.
The players who were part of the Test Squad
on the England tour but dropped for these two
Tests against Pakistan are Gautam Gambhir,
Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma and Ramesh Powar.
The First Test is to be played at Delhi from the
22nd and the second one at Kolkata from the
13th. The third and final Test is at Bangalore
from December 8th.
India Squad for first two Tests :
Anil Kumble
(Captain), Dinesh
Karthik, Wasim
Jaffer, Rahul
Dravid,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Sourav Ganguly,
VVS Laxman,
Mahendra Singh
Dhoni (Vice-Captain and Wicket Keeper),
Yuvraj Singh,
Murali Kartik,
RP Singh,
Zaheer Khan,
Sreesanth and
Harbhajan Singh
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