By IANS
New Delhi : Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh have been dropped for the one-day series against South Africa in Ireland and for Test matches in England, the Indian cricket board announced here Tuesday.
"Sachin Tendulkar has been appointed as the vice-captain for the Test matches against England while Mahendra Singh Dhoni appointed the deputy for the one-day series in Ireland against South Africa," said Niranjan Shah, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, announcing the team.
Tendulkar and former captain Sourav Ganguly, who were omitted for the recent one-dayers against Bangladesh, made their way back to the one-day side and have been included in the Test team for the England series as well.
Sehwag had a decent outing in the recently concluded Afro-Asia Cup but still failed to impress the selectors.
"A lot of cricket is still left in Sehwag. If he performs well he will be back in the side," said Dillip Vengsarkar, chairman of the senior selection committee.
On Harbhajan, Vengsarkar said: "He has to bowl well and get more wickets."
Munaf Patel, Manoj Tewari and Suresh Raina were also left out due to injuries while Irfan Pathan's name was not even discussed in the selection meeting.
"Irfan hasn't played much. He has to play more in the domestic circuit and get more wickets to get back into the team," said Vengsarkar when asked about the all-rounder's omission.
He also hailed Dhoni's appointment as the vice-captain and said: "Sachin is an experienced player but we also want Dhoni to be in the place. He (Dhoni) is a thinking cricketer."
India will play three one-dayers against South Africa and one against Ireland in Ireland starting June 23 and play three Test matches in England from July 19.
TEAMS:
One-dayers in Ireland: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket keeper/vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh.
Test in England: Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain), Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, V.V.S Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper) Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble, Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma and Ranadeb Bose