Sachin Laxman back for NZ tests

Veteran batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were named in the 15 member squad for the upcoming two Test series against New Zealand. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane also found a place for themselves in the squad that was announced by the selection committee. There were also recalls to Piyush Chawla, the leg-spinner and Ishant Sharma who seems to have recovered after the surgery of his toes which kept him out of the team after the tour to Australia. 

There were calls for a revamp of the Test squad following the consecutive 4-0 whitewashes in England and Australia. Laxman, who fared poorly in both series was the one under fire but the retirement of Rahul Dravid has forced the selection committee against making too many drastic changes. 

Rahane impressed one and all with his ability during the IPL and has also been a fringe part of the ODI team. He disappointed on the 'A' tour to West Indies, but the selectors seem to have handed him an opportunity to impress on the big stage. Pujara was sidelined with an injury during last year's IPL and was forced to miss the England and Australian tours. He led the India 'A' team admirably during the tour of the Caribbean Islands with his knock of 96 helping the team win the first unofficial Test. 

There were no other major surprises with Rohit Sharma, the only other probable for a spot in the team batting himself out of contention with a miserable sequence of scores in the recently concluded Sri Lanka ODI series. 

Suresh Raina makes a comeback into the side after being dropped following his struggles in England. He scored only 105 runs at a poor average of 13.12. He was constantly bounced out and fared very poorly against the spin of Graeme Swann. 

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will be the openers with Rahane and Pujara to fight for the slot vacated by Rahul Dravid. Virat Kohli has done exceedingly well at the No. 3 position in ODI matches and might well be promoted to that slot in the Test team as well. 

Zaheer Khan will lead the bowling unit along with the impressive Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, who formed a good pair in the last home series against West Indies retained their places with Piyush Chawla in reserve. There was no place in the 15 member squad for off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh. 

Addressing the press after the selection committee meeting, chairman of the selection panel, Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that they were happy with the selections and exuded confidence that the team will do well in the upcoming season. 

The first of the 2 Test series starts on the 23rd of August at Hyderabad. 

Team: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, M S Dhoni (c&wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Piyush Chawla, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.