India drop Yuvraj from tests against Australia

Mon, Sep 20 10 08:17 PM

Middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh was dropped on Monday from India's test squad against Australia while Zaheer Khan and Shantakumaran Sreesanth have returned from injuries to bolster the pace department.

Yuvraj has been replaced by Cheteshwar Pujara, a prolific 22-year-old from Saurashtra, in the 15-man squad selected in Chennai for next month's Border-Gavaskar series.

Yuvraj expressed both surprise and disappointment at his omission from the squad.

"I was satisfied with my performance in the last two five-day innings I played. It's very tough for batsmen to make hundreds in every match," said the left-hander, who scored 52 and five in his last two test innings.

"Disappointments have become part of my life and this is yet another disappointment. My fitness is better now, it was difficult in Sri Lanka with dengue and neck injury."

Zaheer (shoulder) and Sreesanth (knee) were out of action during India's three-test tour of Sri Lanka.

The squad, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, contains nine batsmen, three medium-pacers and as many spinners.

"Pujara is a very good player, he has done really well in the India A series. You will have to give credit to domestic performance and A series and everything else," India selection committee chief Krish Srikkanth told reporters.

"Overall, we have selected the best team and I don't think there is any surprise inclusion or surprise exclusion. It was the sheer weight of performance, talent and of course fitness that was taken into account."

The Australia team, who arrived in India on Monday, start their tour with a three-day match in Chandigarh on Saturday.

Mohali hosts the first test from Oct. 1-5, while the second will be held in Bangalore from Oct. 9-13.

Australia will also play three one-day internationals.

India - MS Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, M.Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, S.Sreesanth, Amit Mishra.

Source: Published>