As expected, Yuvraj Singh has been named in the squad for the first two Tests against England, starting November 15. Harbhajan Singh was also recalled while Suresh Raina was dropped. M Vijay was included as the third specialist opener in the squad of 15, with Ajinkya Rahane as a middle-order batsman. The first national selection meeting of the newly-appointed panel, headed by Sandeep Patil at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai, also attended by the captain MS Dhoni, didn’t last long. While it was announced earlier that only the first Test squad would be selected, the selectors picked the squad for the first two Tests.
While Yuvraj has proven his fitness for the rigours of Test cricket over the last month after recovering from a germ cell cancer, Harbhajan was selected for his experience and lack of options once Piyush Chawla failed to recover from a thumb injury.
India squad for first two Tests
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Zaheer Khan.
