Visakhapatnam: Out-of-favour players Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir were today handed a lifeline for staging a comeback to the national team as they were included in the India 'A' squad for two four-day games against visiting West Indies 'A' next month. Yuvraj Singh, another player who find himself on the sidelines, was also given an opportunity to force his way back into the ODI team after being named captain for the three-match unofficial series and lone T20 match against West Indies 'A' beginning September 15. The squads were named by the BCCI senior selection panel which met here today.
All the four players have been out of the Indian team since early this year. They will play under Cheteshwar Pujara in the second and third four-day games at Shimoga (October 2-5) and Hubli (October 9-12), the Cricket Board said in a media release. The trio of Zaheer, Sehwag and Gambhir were not named for the first four-day game that will be held at Mysore from September 25-28. Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Pervez Rasool has been picked for all the three matches for the unofficial Test series.
Yuvraj, who played his last international match in January in an ODI against England, will lead a 14-member One-Day and T20 team which has the likes of Unmukt Chand, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Jaydev Unadkat and Praveen Kumar. All the three matches of the unofficial ODI series will be played in Bangalore on September 15, 17 and 19. The lone T20 match will also be played there on September 21. The selectors also picked the India Red and Blue teams for the NKP Salve Challenger one-day series, scheduled at Indore from September 26-29. Vijay Hazare Trophy champions Delhi is the third team in the fray.
Yuvraj will also captain the India Blue side in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy while Irfan Pathan will be the skipper of the India Red team. Mohammad Kaif, who last played for India seven years back but still playing in the domestic circuit, was also named in the India 'A' squad for the second and third four day games.
The Squads: India 'A' squad for three One-Day Games and T20 games against West Indies 'A': Yuvraj Singh (captain), Unmukt Chand, Robin Uthappa, Baba Aparajith, Kedar Jadhav, Naman Ojha (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Jaydev Unadkat, Praveen Kumar, Sumit Narwal, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mandeep Singh, Rahul Sharma.
