India' key players Tendulkar, Gambhir,Yuvraj to miss Carribean Tour

India' key players including Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh will miss the entire tour of the West Indies next month

Sachin Tendulkar will not be a part of the Indian squad for the three-Test series in the West Indies beginning June 20.

The BCCI said here on Friday that Tendulkar had requested for rest to spend more time with his family. The maestro, just one short of his 100th international century, will be available for the Test series in England.

The all-India selection panel, headed by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, met here on Friday to pick the Test team to the West Indies and announce injury replacements for the Twenty20 and ODI teams for the series in the Caribbean.

Gautam Gambhir, the skipper for the limited-over leg of the campaign, was ruled out of the tour due to a shoulder injury. Suresh Raina will now skipper the Twenty20 and ODI side in the West Indies. Harbhajan Singh will be the vice-captain.

Setback for Yuvraj

There was yet another injury setback for the Indian team. Like Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh will miss the entire tour. The left-handed Yuvraj is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in his left lung.

Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary will come in for Gambhir and Yuvraj in the limited-over squad.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni returns to skipper the Test side. Zaheer Khan too is back after being rested for the ODI series.

Dhoni's deputy

The experienced V.V.S. Laxman has been named vice-captain. In fact, much of India's prospects hinge on Laxman and Rahul Dravid.

With both Virender Sehwag and Gambhir not figuring in the side, Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund will be the specialist openers. Parthiv Patel, the second wicketkeeper, can double up as an opener in the event of an emergency. Raina, S. Badrinath and Virat Kohli make the cut but there is no room for Cheteshwar Pujara.

Harbhajan, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are the specialist spinners. The pace attack will be manned by Zaheer, Ishant Sharma, S. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel.

The squads:

Tests: M.S. Dhoni (captain), V.V.S. Laxman (vice-captain), M. Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, R. Dravid, V. Kohli, S. Badrinath, S. Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, S. Sreesanth, A. Mishra, P. Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel.

ODIs/T20: S. Raina (captain), R. Ashwin, S. Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vice-captain), V. Kohli, Praveen Kumar, A. Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Yusuf Pathan, W. Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, M. Tiwary, S. Dhawan.