India recalled fragile pace spearhead Zaheer Khan on Saturday for the Australia tour pending a fitness test, but continued to ignore seasoned spinner Harbhajan Singh. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the 17-man squad with Virender Sehwag as his deputy for the four-Test series starting next month, the Indian cricket board said in a media release.
Injury-prone Zaheer, 33, has been sidelined since damaging a hamstring on the opening day of the Test series in England in July and later also underwent ankle surgery. India will hope Zaheer, who has 273 wickets from 79 Tests, is declared fit because the rest of the bowling attack is very inexperienced. Apart from fellow-seamer Ishant Sharma, who has played 41 Tests, the remaining five specialist bowlers have just 26 Test appearances between them.
India open the three-month tour on December 15 with two practice matches in Canberra ahead of the first Test starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26. The remaining Tests will be played in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. This will be followed by two Twenty20 internationals, before Sri Lanka join in for a one-day tri-series from February 5. The Indian team for the limited-overs leg of the tour will be named later.
India's Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Praveen Kumar. Coach: Duncan Fletcher (ZIM).
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