Gill Saab
Yaar Malang
Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan has been called back into the Indian Test team for the tour of South Africa scheduled to start next month. Ishant Sharma, who had been dropped from the ODI side against West Indies has also found his way back following a nine-wicket haul for Delhi against Haryana.
Zaheer had last played for India in the Eden Gardens Test against England in December, 2012 but returned impressive performances for India A and Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy matches. Ishant, who was taken for plenty in the ODI series against Australia, also reclaimed his spot, mainly on the basis of his match-winning show on Sunday.
Interestingly, Zaheer was one of three senior players along with Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag to lose their central contracts last week.
Meanwhile, senior batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag continued to be ignored despite the former's 153 in difficult conditions over the weekend. Yuvraj Singh, who has had a horrid run in his comeback ODIs retained his place while Wriddhiman Saha was added to the Test squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.
Ambati Rayudu, who made an impressive debut in Zimbabwe earlier this year found favour again and was drafted into both the Test and ODI teams for South Africa. As expected, the selectors decided to go for outright pace, including tearaway fast bowler Umesh Yadav for a tour that is expected to serve up bouncy pitches.
India play three ODIs and two Tests starting December 5.
Test team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Ambati Rayudu, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja
ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane
Zaheer had last played for India in the Eden Gardens Test against England in December, 2012 but returned impressive performances for India A and Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy matches. Ishant, who was taken for plenty in the ODI series against Australia, also reclaimed his spot, mainly on the basis of his match-winning show on Sunday.
Interestingly, Zaheer was one of three senior players along with Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag to lose their central contracts last week.
Meanwhile, senior batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag continued to be ignored despite the former's 153 in difficult conditions over the weekend. Yuvraj Singh, who has had a horrid run in his comeback ODIs retained his place while Wriddhiman Saha was added to the Test squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.
Ambati Rayudu, who made an impressive debut in Zimbabwe earlier this year found favour again and was drafted into both the Test and ODI teams for South Africa. As expected, the selectors decided to go for outright pace, including tearaway fast bowler Umesh Yadav for a tour that is expected to serve up bouncy pitches.
India play three ODIs and two Tests starting December 5.
Test team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Ambati Rayudu, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja
ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane