Sachin, Sehwag return for WI series

Sachin, Sehwag return for WI series

 

 Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh all returned to the Indian squad, while Harbhajan Singh was ignored for the first Test against the West Indies.

 

Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin found a place in the 15-member squad, picked by the Krishnamachari Srikkanth-led selection committee in Kolkata on Friday, which also has four other new faces in Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.
Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj, who missed the ODI series in England as well as the return rubber at home due to injuries, were recalled for the November 6-10 match.
Out-of-form off-spinner Harbhajan continues to be sidelined, with the selectors preferring Ashwin over him.
Right-arm pacer Ishant Sharma, who was also not a part of India's ODI squad against England due to an injury, returns to the team that will again be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Among those who did not find a place in the Test squad that visited England this summer are left-hand batsman-all-rounder Suresh Raina, leg-spinner Amit Mishra and pacer Praveen Kumar.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who toured England for the Test series, retained his place as did young right-hand batsman Virat Kohli.
Senior batsmen Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who no longer play ODIs, were also named in the squad.
The squad has eight specialist batsmen, three spinners and three pacers with Dhoni the lone wicketkeeper.
Srikkanth said the squad for the first Test against West Indies has been chosen with an eye on the future.
"We think from the future point of view. We have to look at building the side from the perspective of the future," Srikkanth said.
Srikkanth also assured that fitness will not be a concern in the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.
"Everybody is 100 percent fit, I can assure you that fitness will not be a concern," he added.
However, he Srikkanth refused to divulge any reasons for omitting Harbhajan from the squad.

The squad: M S Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma.