Indian Squad For Australia Tour: Harbhajan, Yuvraj Dropped

The 17-member Indian squad for the tour of Australia has no Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh or Suresh Raina. Instead, the selectors have decided to play it safe and named a squad on expected lines.

MS Dhoni leads the team which has Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag as the two openers and Ajinkya Rahane as the back-up opening batsman. Rahane has been awarded for some consistent Ranji form, to go with some big runs in the ODIs.

Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman form the crux of the middle-order with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma expected to fight it out for the number six position. Yuvraj and Raina miss out here after having got their share of chances.

Dhoni will be the wicket-keeper and Wriddhiman Saha will back him up as the other stumper.

The bowling line-up will see Ishant Sharma lead the pace attack if Zaheer Khan does not recover from his injury quickly enough. Praveen Kumar and one of Umesh Yadav or Varun Aaron should get the third bowler’s spot.

R Ashwin will be the frontline off-spinner and having shown his credentials with the bat after he got a century against the West Indies, he should bat at the number eight position. Pragyan Ojha will be the other spinner in the squad.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt &wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Zaheer Khan (subject to fitness).