Indian opener Sehwag to miss first test at Lord’s

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Indian opener Virender Sehwag needs more time to recover from surgery on his shoulder and will miss the first test against England at Lord’s later this month, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) said yesterday.

“Virender Sehwag will join the team a fortnight later,” the BCCI said in a statement after the selection committee meeting in Chennai, during which the squad for the four-test series was picked.

Senior cricketers including Sehwag’s opening partner Gautam Gambhir and paceman Zaheer Khan returned to the squad after recovering from injuries that ruled them out of the ongoing tour of West Indies.

Opener Gambhir missed out on the full tour of the Caribbean due to a shoulder injury while pacemen Zaheer and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth were ruled out with a right ankle and right elbow problem, respectively.

Yuvraj Singh, who missed the tour of West Indies with a lung infection, returned to the test squad almost a year after he had played his last match in the five-day format against Sri Lanka in July, 2010.

Prolific run-scorer Sachin Tendulkar, who needs one more century to score his 100th international hundred, returned to bolster the middle order batting after he had opted out of the West Indies tour to spend time with his family.

Left-handed batsman Abhinav Mukund, who has opened the innings for India in the ongoing test series against West Indies, was added as cover for Sehwag.

Wriddhiman Saha got the nod ahead of Parthiv Patel for the second wicket-keeper’s slot in the squad that includes five seamers and two spinners.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India will play four tests, five one-day internationals and a lone Twenty20 match in their two-month tour starting July 15.

Squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.