Struggling opener Gautam Gambhir was shown the door while left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar earned their maiden Test call-ups in the 15-member Indian cricket squad announced today for the first two Tests against Australia starting on February 22 in Chennai.

Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who seems to have regained some lost touch in the ongoing Irani Cup tie, rode on past reputation to return to the squad announced by the BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale.

The selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, made three changes to the squad that was selected in the last Test match against England, after deliberating for over two hours at the BCCI headquarters here.

With Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav yet to recover from injuries, the selectors decided to include in-form 23-year-old Bhuvneshwar, who impressed in the limited overs-series against England and Pakistan.

The 32-year-old Harbhajan, who was dropped from the team after the lost third Test against England in November, has been brought back, keeping in mind his excellent record against Australia. R. Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja are the other three spinners in the squad.

Harbhajan, who has 408 wickets in 99 Tests, is a proven performer against the team from Down Under, especially on the dustbowls at home, and that reputation alone seems to have worked for him given that his domestic form this season has hardly been impressive.

On the other hand, the 31-year-old Gambhir, for whom a Test hundred has proved elusive for over three years now, became the biggest casualty of India’s 1-2 home debacle against England last year.

Squad: M.S. Dhoni (Capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, M. Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda.

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