Rohit Includes for West Indies Test Series

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma is the only new batsman in India's squad for the two Tests against West Indies next month.

Off-colour pacer Ishant Sharma was surprisingly retained even as senior bowler Zaheer Khan was ignored in the 15-member Indian squad announced on Wednesday.

Ishant, who has been taken to cleaners in the ongoing ODI series against Australia, has come in for scathing criticism due to his poor form and was even dropped from the last two matches of the ongoing series.

Zaheer, on the other hand, had made a case for his selection by picking up five wickets in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy opener against Haryana but the selectors thought otherwise and decided to stick to Ishant. The 35-year-old Zaheer has been out of the Test team since December last year owing to fitness and form issues.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and batsman Suresh Raina were also dropped from the squad. But while Jadeja went out due to a shoulder strain, Raina had to make way for a fit-again Shikhar Dhawan, who has shown sparkling form in the ongoing ODIs after recovering from a hand injury, striking a hundred in the sixth ODI last night.

Pacer Umesh Yadav, who had been rested after the tri-series in the West Indies, made his way back to the side. Also there was young pacer Mohammed Shami.

Young seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has retained his place. Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was, however, shown the door with Amit Mishra taking his place in the side. Harbhajan was ousted despite picking nine wickets in Punjab's opening Ranji match against Tamil Nadu.

The spin attack will be spearhead by Ravichandran Ashwin with Pragyan Ojha and Mishra backing him up.

The batting line-up was not touched too much with Dhawan's re-entry being the only change brought about by the five-member selection committee headed by Sandeep Patil.

The spotlight will, however, firmly be on Tendulkar, who would be completing 200 Tests in international cricket before drawing the curtains on his career.

The landmark match would be played in the 40-year-old's home ground in Mumbai from November 14, preceded by the opening game in Kolkata from November 6.

Indian Test squad: MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

In: Rohit Sharma, Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra and Umesh Yadav

Out: Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Dinda and Ravindra Jadeja