MUMBAI, Oct 23: India’s cricket selectors on Tuesday picked a new opening batsman, Connor Williams, in a 16-member squad for next month’s three-Test series in South Africa.

The 28-year-old Baroda left-hander got the nod to partner Shiv Sunder Das after Sadagopan Ramesh pulled out of the tour because of a back injury sustained during the tour of Sri Lanka in August.

Williams enchanced his claims with an impressive display in the opening match of the current domestic season, scoring 143 and 83 for Baroda against Rest of India in the Irani Cup.

The squad includes two wicket-keepers as Sameer Dighe joins Deep Dasgupta, who was picked for the ongoing one-day series against South Africa and Kenya.

The selectors, however, continued to ignore the claims of veteran Nayan Mongia, regarded by many the best wicket-keeper in the country.

Asked why Mongia had been left out, chairman of selectors Chandu Borde said: “It was a committee decision. Don’t ask me anything more.”

Left-arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, who missed the one-day series because of injuries, were declared fit and returned to the Test squad.

“Both Zaheer and Nehra were completely free of any pain which troubled them recently,” cricket board physician Anant Joshi said after examining the duo before the selection meeting.

Hard-hitting batsman Virender Sehwag, who smashed the seventh-fastest one-day century against New Zealand in August, was named in the Test squad for the first time.

Reetinder Sodhi, Yuvraj Singh and Harvinder Singh, currently part of the one-day team, were not considered.

Squad: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Shiv Sunder Das, Connor Williams, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sameer Dighe, Deep Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Javagal Srinath.—AFP