Kartik, Harbhajan recalled into Test squad

MUMBAI: Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik were on Wednesday recalled while the in-form Gautam Gambhir failed to find a place in the 14-member Indian squad for the first two cricket Tests against Pakistan.

Paceman Irfan Pathan and swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag, who managed to force their way into the Indian ODI team, were not included in the team announced by the Cricket Board here.

While the recall of Harbhajan and Kartik were very much on the cards, there were no surprises in the team to be captained by veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble with current ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni being made his deputy.

The two spinners were rewarded a place in the team for their good performances in the recent one-dayers against Australia and Pakistan.

The selectors' decision to go for an additional spinner in the home series meant that Gambhir could not be accommodated in the squad which has three specialist spinners and as many pacers.

The selectors also chose only two openers in Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Kaarthick, who had a successful combine in the series against England in July-August.

The 26-year-old Harbhajan was reinstated into the Test team for the first time since the tour of South Africa which ended in early January while left-arm spinner Kartik got inducted after a gap of almost three years.

The duo replaced Ramesh Powar, the stocky Mumbai off-spinner, and medium pacer Ishant Sharma who were both part of the Test squad that won the series in England in August.

Another member of that victorious 15-strong team, Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose, also expectedly got the boot.

The recall of Harbhajan, with 238 wickets in 57 Tests under his belt, was on expected lines after his comeback to the one-day squad in place of Powar.

The Punjab bowler, who has also shown impressive form in the 50-over format at home in the last two series, last figured in a Test eleven in April-May 2006 against West Indies.

Harbhajan was not in the team for the tours of Bangladesh and England earlier this year after failing to make it to the playing eleven against South Africa though he was part of the squad.

Kartik's absence from the Test rankings has been even longer. The left arm spinner, who has played only eight Tests since his debut in 1999-2000, last played a Test against South Africa at Kanpur in 2004-05.

The first India-Pakistan Test is to be played at Delhi from November 22-26 while Kolkata will be the venue for the second match of the three-Test series from Nov 30-December 4.

The meeting was attended by all five members of the selection panel headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, and also present was newly appointed captain Kumble.

BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah convened the meeting and announced the list of team members but the BCCI decided to do away with their recent practice of asking Vengsarkar to interact with the media after the meeting.

Vengsarkar was recently asked by the BCCI to refrain from writing his syndicated newspaper columns too.

Shah said that the team for the final Test at Bangalore (December 8-12) as well as for the following tour of Australia will be picked at the conclusion of the Kolkata Test match.

Kartik's improved display in the one-dayers since his recall out of the blue against Australia in the previous home series provided him with a chance to bounce back not only for the series against Pakistan but for the four-Test series Down Under too.

Test specialist Laxman and former captain Rahul Dravid, no longer figuring in the ODI squad, give meat to the experienced middle order which has Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Yuvraj Singh, besides wicket-keeper Dhoni to provide it with a rock solid look in home conditions.

The last middle order slot in the eleven could be a toss-up between Yuvraj, in great form in the shortened formats of the game, and the in-and-out Laxman.

The success of the middle order and the failure of Sehwag in his last Test series as opener in South Africa, seems to have swayed the selectors' mind from giving him another chance to relaunch his Test career.

But his place in the squad for Australia cannot be ruled out because of his superb run in the last visit down under.

The team: Anil Kumble (Capt), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Vice-Capt) Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, R P Singh, S Sreesanth, Murali Kartik and Dinesh Kaarthick.