Yuvraj, Gambhir to miss entire West Indies tour

Yuvraj Singh has joined Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar on the sidelines for the entire West Indies tour. While Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan are back for the Test series, the ODI side is further weakened by the absence of Yuvraj and Gambhir. The All-India Senior Selection Committee met in Chennai on Friday to pick the Indian team for the forthcoming Test series against the West Indies, and to discuss issues related to the composition of the squad for the ODI series, which precedes the Tests. Gambhir will be unavailable for the full tour of the West Indies on account of his shoulder injury. Yuvraj Singh will also be unavailable for the full tour. He is suffering from an upper respiratory infection with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung. When you consider the fact that Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Zaheer and Ashish Nehra are also missing, you can’t help but get the feeling that India is sending a virtual ‘A’ side to the Caribbean. [caption id=“attachment_16877” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Yuvraj Singh will also miss the West Indies tour. Graham Crouch/Reuters”]  [/caption] Suresh Raina will lead the ODI and T20 squads with Harbhajan Singh as his deputy. Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary have been named as the replacements for Gambhir and Yuvraj for the T20 and ODI series. The major challenge for the team management will be the opening slot. Sehwag and Gambhir have been a huge part of India’s success story in the recent past and without them around, there will be uncertainties. The Tamil Nadu opening pair of Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund take over from them. But while they have had great success in domestic cricket, they may find international cricket a different kettle of fish. Also, the batting which can generally count on experienced hands to help with now depend heavily on Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and S Badrinath will be in a shootout for spots in the middle order. Their performances in the ODI series will go a long way towards convincing coach Duncan Fletcher. Sachin Tendulkar requested that he be allowed to spend time with his family. He will therefore not play the Test series. However, he will be available for the full tour of England, that follows. The team for the Test series: 1.M S Dhoni (Captain) 2.V V S Laxman (Vice Captain) 3.M Vijay 4.Abhinav Mukund 5.Rahul Dravid 6.Virat Kohli 7.S Badrinath 8.Harbhajan Singh 9. Ishant Sharma 10. S Sreesanth 11. Amit Mishra 12. Pragyan Ojha 13. Zaheer Khan 14. Munaf Patel 15. Suresh Raina 16. Parthiv Patel