WI tour sans Sachin, Gambhir, Yuvraj

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, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The All-India Senior Selection Committee met in Chennai during the day 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 Test series.

Gautam Gambhir will be unavailable for the full tour of the West Indies, on account of his shoulder injury, BCCI honorary secretary and president elect N. Srinivasan said.

Yuvraj Singh will also be unavailable for the full tour, it said. He is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung.

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 team for the Test series is as follows:

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