Press Trust Of India
Nagpur, March 5: The national selectors on Sunday called up pacer Munaf Patel and once again ignored former captain Sourav Ganguly while naming the squad for the second Test against England at Mohali from March 9 to 13.
The 15-member line up saw the return of Yuvraj Singh who had recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first Test that ended in a draw.
Uttar Pradesh middle order batsman Suresh Raina and Punjab's much talked about fast bowler Vikram Rajvir Singh made way for Patel and Yuvraj.
Chairman of Selectors Kiran More reiterated the view on Ganguly's chances of a comeback.
"I am sticking to what I said in Baroda about Ganguly. We are looking forward and there's no question of looking back on the issue," he said.
More had said in Baroda where the squad for the first Test was announced that the present selection committee would not recall Ganguly.
The five selectors along with captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell attended the meeting held soon after the first Test ended in a draw.
Patel was rewarded for his 10-wicket haul that helped a Board President's XI beat England by eight wickets in a three-day tour match at Baroda last week.
The native of Ikhar, Gujarat, who played for Mumbai before moving to Maharashtra this season in the Ranji Trophy championship, had come into the reckoning three years ago when he played a tour match against New Zealand in 2003-04.
"Munaf (Patel) is in great form in domestic cricket. The report on him has been outstanding," More said.
"He also took wickets in the side game (against England). We have some gameplan and this (his selection) is according to the plan."
Yuvraj, who was injured during the fifth and final ODI against Pakistan, was declared fit by the team physio John Gloster after his rehabilitaion work.
About VRV Singh's omission, More said the selectors were very impressed with Munaf Patel's performance and have some game plan about the bowler.
"We wanted to give VRV Singh a taste of Test match conditions. Now we want him to go back and play domestic one-day cricket for Punjab," he explained.
More sang praises of Jaffer who scored 81 and 100 in the first Test, his maiden three-figure knock, on his comeback match after three and a half hours.
"Jaffer played exceptionally well in both the innings and the selectors as well as the team management is very happy with him. Opening was one slot which was of concern to us and hopefully he will continue to do well," he said.
Asked about vice-captain Sehwag who flopped in both the innings scoring two and noughtm More said, "he's one of the best players in the world".
Team:
Rahul Dravid (C), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Sreesanth, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel.