Test Squad announced: Yuvi & Bhajji drafted

The announcement of the Test squad by this selection committee was on the expected lines - almost all the players have retained themselves in the squad. The surprise element, I would say, is M.Vijay and Harbhajan Singh.

Rahane has already been inducted as a 3rd opener, incase Sehwag, is unable to take the field against England, but, with the induction of M.Vijay, the selectors did spring a surprise by including him as the 4th opener. I would have expected a middle order batsman, in the likes of Badrinath to take the position atleast for the next couple of years. This also means that the door is shut for Badrinath for good.  Sandeep Patil clarifies that Rahane has been selected as a middle order batsmen.

Another notable inclusion is Bhajji - I think this is based on the World Cup T20 performance against England and the selectors would want to repose their faith on him on that single performance. Now that Dhoni does not have much time to retain his position as Captain, it will be interesting to see whether he will take any risk to include Bhajji in the playing XI.

Hats off to Yuvi for his single dedication to capture his place where he lost due to his cancer treatment. Bravo Yuvi, you have not only done yourself proud, but, to the entire world.

My playing XII will be as follows

Sehwag, Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Sachin, Pujara, Yuvaraj, Dhoni, R.Ashwin, Ojha, Zaheer, Umesh, Rahane

The 1st Test starts on November 15th at Ahmedabad.