Mumbai: Struggling opener Gautam Gambhir was shown the door while left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar earned their maiden Test call-ups in the 15-member Indian cricket squad announced on Sunday for the first two Tests against Australia starting February 22 in Chennai.
Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who seems to have regained some lost touch in the ongoing Irani Cup tie, rode on past reputation to return to the squad to form announced by the BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale.
The selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, made three changes to the squad that was selected in the last Test match against England, after deliberating for over two hours at the BCCI headquarters here.
With Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav yet to recover from injuries, the selectors decided to include in-form 23-year-old Bhuvneshwar, who impressed in the limited overs-series against England and Pakistan.
The 32-year-old Harbhajan, who was dropped from the team after the lost third Test against England in November, has been brought back, keeping in mind his excellent record against Australia. R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja are the other three spinners in the squad.
Harbhajan, who has 408 wickets in 99 Tests, is a proven performer against the team from Down Under especially on the dustbowls at home and that reputation alone seems to have worked for him given that his domestic form this season has hardly been impressive.
On the other hand, the 31-year-old Gambhir, for whom a Test hundred has proved elusive for over three years now, became the biggest casualty of India’s 1-2 home debacle against England last year.
Gambhir will, however, lead India A in a practice match against Australia from February 16 to 18 in place of Dhawan. The four-match Test series will start in Chennai on February 22.
The fact that Dhawan is a left-hander could have tilted the scales in his favour as Gambhir is a southpaw.
The 27-year-old’s most recent noteworthy batting effort was a hundred for Delhi in a warm-up match against England in November. Dhawan, who has scored 833 runs in the current first-class season with four hundreds, has played five ODIs and a Twenty20 International for India.
Although retained, Sehwag has also not been in the best of form and missed a chance to get some runs under his belt by skipping the Irani Cup tie here due to a stomach bug. Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane are the other two openers in the squad.
The 28-year-old Vijay had cracked a century in the ongoing Irani Cup match against Mumbai.
In absence of Irfan Pathan, the all-rounder’s slot has once again gone to Ravindra Jadeja with the selectors deciding against picking Suresh Raina, who had made his case with a hundred and 70 plus in the Irani Cup.
Speculation was rife about S Sreesanth making a comeback to the team having recovered from career-threatening toe injury but the maverick pacer was ignored despite an earnest effort in the Irani Cup.
Similar was case of Wasim Jaffer, who was in contention for a call-up after more than four years, but failed to get the nod despite scores of 80 and 100 in the match.
Jaffer has plundered more than 900 runs at an average of over 74 for Ranji champions Mumbai this season. Interestingly, Jaffer today also became the leading run-getter in Irani Cup history with more than 1000 runs to his credit. Save for Gambhir’s axing, the batting line-up has not been tinkered with and Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Chetshwar Pujara were automatic choices.
The pace attack would be spearheaded by Ishant Sharma with Bhuvneshwar, Ashok Dinda being the other two fast bowlers.
Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda. (PTI)