By IANS
Mumbai : Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik were recalled to the 14-member Indian Test squad Wednesday for the first two matches against Pakistan starting in Delhi Nov 22.
A big surprise was the omission of the in-form batsman Gautam Gambhir, whose recent performances in Twenty20 and one-day international (ODI) matches have been noteworthy.
Virender Sehwag, averaging 91.14 against Pakistan, and left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan, who has regained form in ODI cricket, were not included in the squad either. Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma and Ranadeb Bose, who were in the 16-member squad for the three Tests in England, have also been omitted.
Sehwag, a virtual bogeyman for Pakistan, is the first and so far the lone scorer of a triple Test century for India – the landmark he achieved against Pakistan in Multan in 2004.
He has hit four centuries against Pakistan, and apart from the triple ton he has two double hundreds and a century against the neighbouring country.
Kartik, who is not among the 33 players contracted by the board, has been recalled on the basis of his performance in the ODIs against Australia and in the ongoing one-day series against Pakistan.
Harbhajan, who was dropped for the India’s Test tour of England in July-August, has bowled well to earn a recall and play under the new captain – his spinning partner Anil Kumble.
This time the Dilip Vengsarkar-led selection committee picked only 14 members for the Test squad. This is to allow more and more international players represent their home sides in domestic tournaments, currently underway.
Besides Vengsarkar, Sanjay Jagdale (central zone), Bhupinder Singh senior (north), Ranjib Biswal (east) and Venkatpathy Raju (south) are members of the selection committee. Kumble was also present.
Gambhir’s axing was unexpected, given his recent record. He has been in fine form since scoring 101 in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka in May this year. The left-hander’s ODI scores have been: 80 not out, 0, 5, 85 not out, 3, 51, 47, 12, 4 not out, 7, 6, 44, 57 and 25.
Gambhir has also been in good form in Twenty20 format. The Delhi batsman scored 51, 58, 19, 24 and 75 during India’s victory run in World Championship of the shortest version of the game in South Africa. Besides, he hammered 63 in the one-off tie against Australia in Mumbai recently.
India will play its second Test against Pakistan in Kolkata from Nov 30.
Squad: Anil Kumble (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik and Rudra Pratap Singh
Coach: Lalchand Rajput