Sachin Tendulkar was rested while a shoulder injury forced out Gautam Gambhir and illness ruled Yuvraj Singh out of the entire West Indies tour starting next week.
Gambhir's injury — the subject of heated debate in the last two days — was found to be serious, while Yuvraj Singh, the Player of the World Cup, has been rendered low due to an upper respiratory tract infection.
Rising Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, already a mainstay for ODIs, is in line for a Test debut after he was expectedly drafted into the 16-man squad named on Friday for the three-match series that will follow the lone Twenty20 and five ODIs. Tamil Nadu's prolific left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund was the lone new face in the Test squad.
The spots vacated by Gambhir and Yuvraj in the T20 and ODI squads will be taken up by Delhi batsman Shikhar Dhawan and Bengal's Manoj Tiwary, who have both played one ODI each.
Suresh Raina was handed the reins of the ODI and T20 team in place of Gambhir with Harbhajan Singh named his deputy. Skipper MS Dhoni and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who were already rested for the first leg of the series, will return for the Tests.Virender Sehwag was already ruled out of the series following a shoulder surgery while young batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is nursing a knee injury.
"Gautam Gambhir will be unavailable for the full tour of the West Indies, on account of his shoulder injury. Yuvraj Singh will also be unavailable for the full tour. He is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung," the BCCI said in a statement.
{{/usCountry}}"Gautam Gambhir will be unavailable for the full tour of the West Indies, on account of his shoulder injury. Yuvraj Singh will also be unavailable for the full tour. He is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung," the BCCI said in a statement.
{{/usCountry}}Tendulkar, leading Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, wanted a break to spend time with his family. "However, he will be available for the full tour of England that follows," the board statement said.
Skipper MS Dhoni and new coach Duncan Fletcher also attended the selection meeting.
After the meeting, selection committee chairman K. Srikkanth refused to comment on the Gambhir controversy. "We've selected the best side, and there have been a few injury issues. We cannot do anything about it. Let's not go deep into it."