MUMBAI, July 8: Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday took the rare step of opting out of India’s Test tour of Sri Lanka due to fatigue, while Sachin Tendulkar returned to the squad after recovering from a groin strain.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni had asked the national selectors not to consider him for the three-Test series starting in Colombo on July 23 as he needed a break after virtually playing non-stop cricket in recent months.
Parthiv Patel, who played his last Test in 2004, and Dinesh Karthik were the wicket-keepers in a 16-man squad that includes newcomers middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble will lead the squad with opener Virender Sehwag stepping up as deputy in Dhoni’s absence.
Dhoni, however, will be available for the five One-day Internationals in Sri Lanka after the Test series. He has scored 1,418 runs in 29 Tests with one hundred and nine half-centuries.
The Indian one-day and Twenty20 captain has been playing regularly since leading his side to a memorable triangular series victory in Australia early this year.
He then figured in three home Tests against South Africa, followed by a 44-day domestic Twenty20 competition and one-day series in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Dhoni welcomed the Indian cricket board’s stand to give players a break from the hectic international schedule.
“In India and the sub-continent in general, we have a full year of cricket and there’s no off-season,” he told reporters. “It’s tough for cricketers. When we want rest, we should get it. The Indian board has said we can take a break whenever we want, which I think is a very good policy.”
Encouraging news for India was the return of Tendulkar, who missed the last two home Tests against South Africa in April and one-day tournaments in Bangladesh and Pakistan due to the groin injury.
All eyes will be on the master batsman, who is just 172 short of breaking retired West Indies captain Brian Lara’s world record of 11,953 Test runs.
India, who lost both the one-day finals in Bangladesh and Pakistan, were bolstered by the return of Test veterans Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh returned after having served a ban for five ODIs for slapping India team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth during a domestic Twenty20 match in April.
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir was rewarded for his consistency in recent one-day and Twenty20 matches with a Test place ahead of Wasim Jaffer. He played the last of his 14 Tests in 2007.
Left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan also made a comeback after playing his last Test in Australia in 2007, while left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh was dropped.
Test squad: Anil Kumble (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha.—AFP
