Friday, February 13, 2009

Balaji back in Test squad, Kulkarni surprise pick for NZ tour

Chennai: Medium-pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji made a comeback to the Indian Test squad while fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni got his maiden national call-up for the tour of New Zealand.
For Kulkarni it was a surprise call since he made his first class debut for Mumbai just six months back while Balaji returned to the Test side after being selected for the one-day side in Sri Lanka earlier this month.

The national selectors Friday announced the squad of 16 each for three Tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20 games for the 42-day tour in New Zealand starting Feb 25.

Dinesh Karthik pipped Parthiv Patel as the second wicket-keeper in all the three squads, riding on his brilliant form in the domestic circuit.

Squads:

Test: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Amit Mishra, L. Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik.

ODI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar.

Twenty20: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar.

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