Yuvraj makes a comeback, Rudra Pratap dropped from Test squad

Chennai, Dec 4 (IANS) National selectors Thursday decided to bring in Yuvraj Singh in place of retired Sourav Ganguly for the two-Test series against England, starting here Tuesday.

The selection committee under the chairmanship of Krisnamachari Srikkanth also decided to retain opener Murali Vijay and drop medium-pacer Rudra Pratap Singh from the 15-member squad. Rookie left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has also been selected for the series.

Yuvraj, who last played a Test against South Africa in Kanpur in April, virtually sealed his place after his stupendous form against the English team in the one-day series that was cut short after last week's terror strikes in Mumbai. He was the top run-getter with two back-to-back centuries against England.

The first Test will be played in Chennai from Dec 11 and the second at Mohali from Dec 19.

The Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Murali Vijay, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, S. Badrinath, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha.