Nehra, Mohanty return to India squad

Saurav Ganguly will lead India on the upcoming month-long tour of Zimbabwe.

The squad, as picked by the national selectors at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore this evening, is as follows: Rahul Dravid (vice captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Shiv Sundar Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Ashish Nehra, Debashish Mohanty, Javagal Srinath, Zahir Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sairaj Bahutule and Samir Dighe (wicket-keeper).

In keeping with the thinking of coach John Wright and skipper Saurav Ganguly, the selectors have given weightage to seam, picking 5 seamers as compared to just two spinners in Bahutule and Harbhajan.

Chairman of selectors Chandu Borde and BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele, who briefed the media after the selection meeting, said that no third opener was considered, and added that in the event of injury to one of the openers, Rahul Dravid would move up into the opener's slot.

Besides the 15 named, players like Harvinder Singh, Retinder Singh Sodhi, Dinesh Mongia and Virendra Sehwag were considered, Borde said.

Referring to the wicket-keeping, Borde said that both young hopefuls, Ajay Ratra and Deep Dasgupta, had done very well in the camp and earned good reports from both captain and coach, and therefore they would be very much in the fray for selection in the future. Meanwhile, since only one keeper was being picked, the selectors had opted for Dighe, who also has the confidence of the national coach.

The tour comprises two Tests and a seven match triangular ODI series also involving the West Indies. It kicks off with the first Test, in Harare, starting June 7th and ends exactly one month later, on July 7th, with the final of the ODI series.

Changes will be made in the squad for the one day series, following a selection committee meeting to be held in Bombay in the second week of June.