NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Pacemen Irfan Pathan and Vikram Raj Vir Singh were included on Wednesday in India’s 14-member squad for the third and final Test against Pakistan starting in Bangalore on Saturday.
The duo will take the place of new-ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel.
While left-arm paceman Pathan last played in a Test for India against West Indies in June 2006, Singh was part of India’s playing eleven against Bangladesh in May this year.
Zaheer will miss the Bangalore Test due to an ankle injury, a senior cricket official said on Wednesday. Left-armer Zaheer is one of several new-ball bowlers carrying injuries, forcing the national selectors to pick a depleted pace attack on Wednesday for the Pakistan game and postpone the announcement of the side for the upcoming Test tour of Australia, naming 24 probables instead.
“Because of injuries to several players, the final selection of the squad for Australia will be done only on Dec 12,” board secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters after the selection meeting.
The selectors hope Zaheer will be fit to tour Australia and included him among nine pacemen in the probables.
Munaf Patel has been sidelined due to injury after sharing the new ball with Zaheer in the first two Tests as injury replacement for Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (shoulder) and left-arm Rudra Pratap Singh (abdomen).
Anil Kumble was retained as captain for the four Australia Tests, which start on Dec 26.
Squad for third Test against Pakistan:
Anil Kumble (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly Venkatsai Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Wasim Jaffer, Ishant Sharma, Vikram Raj Vir Singh, Murali Kartik, Dinesh Karthik.
Probables for the tour of Australia:Anil Kumble (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Venkatsai Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Wasim Jaffer, Ishant Sharma, Vikram Raj Vir Singh, Murali Kartik, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Ranadeb Bose, Pankaj Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra. —Agencies
