India tour to Bangladesh: Harbhajan earns Test recall, Jadeja dropped; no senior rested

Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh's burning desire to win his India jersey back was answered in the affirmative on Wednesday as the BCCI selectors picked the veteran offspinner for the one-off Test during the Bangladesh tour.

Harbhajan has had a successful IPL 8 for Mumbai Indians, picking up 16 wickets and leading them to the final of the tournament.

Harbhajan last played for India in March 2013, so he will be returning to India colours after a gap of more than two years. However, it remains to be seen whether skipper Virat Kohli picks him in the eleven considering R Ashwin is also part of the squad.

"We have named two offspinners since Bangladesh have six left-handed batsmen in their squad. Other young offspinners were also discussed with the skipper Virat Kohli," said chief selector Sandeep Patil.

“We received requests for ‘rest’ by some of the players, but considering Bangladesh’s recent form, we wanted to have bench strength on tour,” Patil added.

Patil and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur also informed that the names of Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir were not discussed.

Contrary to reports, the selectors didn't rest any of the seniors and picked the best squad available.

Two noticeable change in the Test squad was the absence of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. While Dhoni retired from the longer format during India's tour of Australia last year, Jadeja has reportedly been dropped on form.

Suresh Raina too has been left out of the Test squad after his miserable return to the whites with a pair in Australia. Legspinner Karn Sharma, however, has retained his place.

Dhoni's retirement means Wriddhiman Saha becomes India's first-choice Test wicketkeeper.

Fast bowler Mohammad Shami will miss the tour due to injury.
Dhoni will continue to lead the ODI squad, where allrounder Axar Patel has been retained but fast bowler Ishant Sharma has not been considered.

Squads:

Test: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma

ODI: MSD (C), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Dhawal Kulkarni