NEW DELHI, Dec 4 - India's middle order batsman
Yuvraj Singh was rewarded for his rich form in the one-day
series with a recall on Thursday for the tests against England.
The left-handed batsman hit successive match-winning
hundreds in the first two games of last month's one-day series
against England, which India clinched 5-0.
England are due to resume their aborted India tour after
calling off the last two one-day games and returning home
following last week's attacks in Mumbai which killed 171 people.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sent a security
expert to address player safety concerns before announcing on
Wednesday the squad would return provided the hosts implemented
all suggested precautionary measures.
The first test starts in Chennai next Thursday with the
second in Mohali scheduled from Dec. 19 after India moved the
matches from Ahmedabad and Mumbai to address England's safety
concerns.
Yuvraj, overlooked for the home test series against
Australia which India won 2-0 last month, made his last test
appearance in April, in the third and final match against South
Africa in Kanpur.
The attacking batsman, who hit 138 not out and 118 at the
start of the England one-day series, is a strong contender for
the middle-order slot vacated by former skipper Saurav Ganguly,
who retired after the Australia series.
The selectors dropped left-arm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh
owing to poor form and included left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
The 22-year-old, who has played five one-day internationals,
will be the back up for off spinner Harbhajan Singh and leg
spinner Amit Mishra.
Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag,
Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu
Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma,
Harbhajan Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath, Munaf Patel, Murali
Vijay, Pragyan Ojha.
(Editing by Rex Gowar)