Harbhajan left out of Lanka tour

[Guest srikanth51]

An injured Harbhajan Singh was today left out of the Indian team while Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar were drafted in the 15-member squad for the upcoming cricket tour of Sri Lanka starting later this month. Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, who was part of the Indian squad for the ODI series against England late last year, was also dropped from the side.

BCCI joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale today announced the 15-member squad which has seven specialist batsmen in captain M S Dhoni, vice captain Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. The five ODIs and a Twenty20 match in Sri Lanka would also test the all-round ability of Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan.

In Harbhajan's absence, Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha will lead the spin department hoping to get adequate support from Jadeja at the other end. The five-member pace attack looks quite formidable with Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma joined by Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar.