Gambhir Dropped For Australia Tests

Gambhir Dropped For Australia Tests

Murali Vijay is favourite to fill the opener's slot vacated by Gautam Gambhir.

©REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds. Picture Supplied by Action Images

India have named their Test squad for the first two matches of the upcoming series against Australia. The selectors have responded to the side’s poor recent form by dropping struggling opener Gautam Gambhir and replacing him with Shikhar Dhawan. Also excluded from the squad that played against England in the final Test in Nagpur are Piyush Chawla and Parvinder Awana.

Harbhajan Singh has again been recalled and replaces Chawla as the third spinning option behind R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar is rewarded for his impressive ODI form with a maiden Test call-up.

Dhawan beat off competition from Wasim Jaffer to replace Gambhir, who has been dropped after a prolonged run of poor form. Dhawan averages over 50 in this season’s Ranji Trophy and will hope to see off the challenge from Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane to take his place alongside Sehwag at the top of the order.

The first Test against Australia begins on 22nd February in Chennai.

Squad: MS Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda.