New Delhi: The selectors on Wednesday announced a 16-member squad for India's tour of the West Indies, leaving out four players who were part of the disappointing World T20 campaign in England.
Bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan was rested from the side and Irfan Pathan was dropped, while Suresh Raina was left out due to a fracture on his thumb. Virender Sehwag, as expected, was not included after missing the World T20 because of a shoulder injury. Continue reading below
Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, had made a request to be left out of the tour after picking up a finger injury in the IPL while Munaf Patel, who was part of the Indian side that toured New Zealand, was left out.
Among the new faces was seamer Ashish Nehra, who last played for India in a one-day international against New Zealand in Harare in 2005, before a strong performance in this year's IPL, where he picked up 19 wickets for Delhi Daredevils - pushed his case for selection.
Abhishek Nayar, who missed out on the flight to England for the World T20, was handed his maiden call-up for an Indian team after his showing with the bat for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy as well as in the IPL. Ravindra Jadeja, on the other hand, was persisted with.
Other notable inclusions were Tamil Nadu batsmen Murali Vijay and S Badrinath, with the former filling in for the opener's slot in the absence of Sehwag. Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper-batsman, was also included.
However, the selectors chose to keep Ishant Sharma in the squad despite a lacklustre showing in the World T20.
Two of the selectors - chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Venkat Raja - were in the UK and communicated with their three colleagues via a teleconference.
Captain MS Dhoni, coach Gary Kirsten, and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan also participated in the meeting from the UK.
Team: M S Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, S Badrinath, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Kartik.
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