MUMBAI, Nov 25: India’s leading bowler Anil Kumble has opted out of next month’s two-Test series against New Zealand for personal reasons and was not included in the 16-man squad named Monday.

“Kumble informed us that he will not be available for the Test series due to some personal problem but will be available for the one-dayers,” Karunakaran Nair, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told reporters.

The 32-year-old leg-spinner is India’s most successful current bowler with 349 wickets in 76 Tests at 27.98 per scalp.

Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who had missed the recent seven-match one-day series against West Indies, have been included in the squad after being declared fit by the team doctor.

Tendulkar had a hamstring injury while Zaheer was resting his troublesome knee.

Squad: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Mohammad Kaif, Shiv Sundar Das, Ajay Ratra, Tinu Yohannan.—Reuters