13 February,2009 01:26 PM IST | | PTI
Young Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was the surprise inclusion, while Lakshmipathy Balaji and his Tamil Nadu teammate Dinesh Kaarthick were recalled in the 16-member Indian Test squad announced today for the tour of New Zealand starting next week.
Apart from the 20-year-old Dhawal, there were no other new faces in the Test squad which is by and large the same that played against England last year at home.
The national selection panel headed by former India captain Krish Srikkanth met here to pick separate teams for the three Test matches, five one-dayers and the two Twenty20 matches.
Kaarthick has been named in all the three teams as the second wicketkeeper with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni being the first-choice stumper. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer Munaf Patel, who had been sidelined with injuries, have expectedly returned to all the three teams. Pragyan Ojha, who figured in the Test squad against England, has, however, been left out of the Test team.
Test Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Kaarthick, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Murali Vijay.
ODI Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan.
Twenty20 squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.
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