Sachin Tendulkar,Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh will miss the entire tour of the West Indies. Suresh Raina will be captain for the Twenty20 and ODI legs of the tour,with Harbhajan Singh as his deputy. Chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth refused to be drawn into the debate surrounding Gambhir,who allegedly played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL despite knowing the full extent of his injury. We have selected the best side,and there have been a few injury issues. We cant do anything about it. Lets not go deep into it, Srikkanth said after the meeting of the selection committee this evening. Gambhir,as reported first by The Indian Express,has an injured right shoulder. Yuvraj has an upper respiratory tract infection. Tendulkar has requested time to rest. Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary have replaced Gambhir and Yuvraj in the T20 and ODI squads. What Srikkanth described as the best side,however,happens to be the weakest ever Indian tour party to the West Indies. While it is clear that the tour isnt high on the BCCIs list of priorities,a reversal in the Caribbean might see the world champions,currently ranked No. 2 in ODIs,drop to No. 4. India currently have 121 points,followed closely by Sri Lanka (118 points) and South Africa (No. 4,116 points). One positive though,is that with so many stars missing,some fringe players have an opportunity to stake a longer-term claim for Test places. Left-handed Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund is likely to make his debut in the first Test at Kingston,walking out with statemate Murali Vijay. S Badrinath,returning to the Test side after his last appearance in the home series against South Africa in February 2010,will add to Tamil Nadus presence in the squad. In the absence of Tendulkar and Cheteshwar Pujara out with a knee injury Badrinath,Raina and Virat Kohli will compete for two middle-order slots alongside Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. With Tendulkar,Dravid and Laxman in the twilight of their careers,a strong showing in the Tests could go towards sealing one or two slots for the future. Regular Test seamers Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth apart,the selectors have named Munaf Patel,who last played a Test on Indias tour to New Zealand in 2009. The wickets during the West Indies-Pakistan Test series had plenty of turn,and the selectors have named three frontline spinners in Harbhajan,Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha. Reserve wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel completes the 16-man squad.
