Tyagi gets Test call against Bangladesh

Chennai:

Young pacer Sudeep Tyagi has earned a place in the 16-member squad that will play two Tests against Bangladesh, starting from January 17.

The National Selection Committee on Tuesday included three spinners - Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra in the squad.

Sachin, who was rested for the tri-series, is back in the side as are Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

Ishant, the gangling Delhi speedster who has been struggling to find his rhythm of late, gets another opportunity to prove his worth with the national selectors reposing faith in him.

Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman S Badrinath, who featured in India's squad which played the last Test against Sri Lanka at home, has been dropped from the team announced by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan after a brief meeting of the selection committee.

"Almost the same team that played against Sri Lanka. Michael Young (fielding coach) was with the team earlier and is likely to be with the team during the Bangladesh tour," Srinivasan said.

Murali Vijay has been included as a reserve opener with Virender Sehwag and Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir being the regulars.

The middle-order has the ever-reliable Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and skipper Dhoni, making it a solid line-up. Dinesh Karthik has been included as the second wicketkeeper.

"It was a very easy team. Last time we beat Lanka and became world number one. I don't think there are any surprises. We have selected the best team. We have the best batting line up in the world today," said Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of the selection committee.

Squad: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Murli Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Sudeep Tyagi.