November 15, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 04, 1428

MUMBAI, Nov 14: India on Wednesday recalled Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik for the first two Tests against Pakistan starting later this month in a bid to catch the tourists in a spin-trap.

Off-spinner Harbhajan and left-arm spinner Kartik join captain and veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the 14-man squad for matches in New Delhi (Nov 22-26) and Kolkata (Nov 30-Dec 4).

The squad for the third and final Test in Bangalore from Dec 8-12 will be named later.

Kumble will open his new innings as captain at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, where he became only the second bowler after Englishman Jim Laker to grab 10 wickets in a Test innings against Pakistan in 1999.

He will now have variety in spin to put the tourists under pressure on wickets expected to favour slow bowlers. Harbhajan and Kartik both have been in good form in recent one-day internationals.

Kumble, with 566 wickets

in 118 matches, is the world’s third-highest wicket-taker in Tests behind only retired Australian Shane Warne and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan.

Harbhajan returns to the squad after playing the last of his 57 Tests against the West Indies in Kingston in July 2006. He has so far bagged 238 wickets.

Kartik has figured in only eight Tests, his last being against South Africa at home in 2004. He was recalled for the home one-dayers against Australia last month, bagging eight wickets in four matches.

Rahul Dravid, who lost his place in the ongoing one-dayers against Pakistan, retained his Test place.

He quit captaincy in September to focus on his

batting after leading India to a rare Test series victory in England.

Hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag, who scored a triple-century in Pakistan in 2004 and averages 91.14 against the arch-rivals, failed to find a spot.

There was no place either for left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan despite impressive performances in the recent Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa and 50-over matches against Australia.

India squad:

Anil Kumble (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Murali Kartik.

Cricket manager: Lalchand Rajput—AFP