Mumbai fast bowler Kulkarni new face in Indian squad for Kiwi series

Chennai, Feb.13 (ANI): Mumbai fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni, who topped the wicket-taking list in the Ranji Trophy season just gone by, is the new face in the Indian Test team selected for the tour of New Zealand.

Tamil Nadu Wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and fast bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji have been recalled to the squad.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay has also been included by the five-man slection committee chaired by former opener Krishnamachari Srikanth.

Saurashtra's promising all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been dropped from the one-day squad, but included in the Twenty20 squad.

India will play a three-match Test series, five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches in New Zealand.

The tour begins with a Twenty20 International in Christchurch on February 25 and another T20 match in Wellington two days later. The first ODI will be played in Napier on March 3.

Sachin Tendulkar has pulled out of the two Twenty20 matches as the star batsman has always preferred to stay away from the shortest format of the game.

Squads:

Test: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Amit Mishra, L. Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dinesh Karthik.

ODI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar.

Twenty20: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar. (ANI)