The Indian selection committee on Thursday named a 16-man squad for the three-Test against South Africa, beginning on December 15.
Sourav Ganguly made it back to the Test team after a long wait of ten months thanks to a lacklustre performance by the youngsters in the ongoing one-day series, in which India trails 0-3.
The selectors, who met in Delhi, dropped Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina, who are in the team for the ongoing limited-overs' series, and stripped Virender Sehwag from vice-captaincy. Stylish Hyderabad batsman V V S Laxman was named Rahul Dravid's deputy.
A statistical analysis of India's Test squad:
| Batsman | Tests | Inns | NO | Runs | Hs | Ave | 100s | 50s | 0s | 90s | Ct | St |
| MS Dhoni | 13 | 20 | 1 | 602 | 148 | 31.68 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 9 |
| R Dravid | 104 | 176 | 22 | 9049 | 270 | 58.76 | 23 | 46 | 6 | 9 | 146 | 0 |
| G Gambhir | 13 | 21 | 2 | 684 | 139 | 36.00 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| S Ganguly | 88 | 140 | 12 | 5221 | 173 | 40.79 | 12 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 59 | 0 |
| Harbhajan | 57 | 79 | 18 | 986 | 66 | 16.16 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| W Jaffer | 14 | 26 | 0 | 883 | 212 | 33.96 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| D Karthik | 10 | 13 | 0 | 245 | 93 | 18.85 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 4 |
| A Kumble | 110 | 140 | 27 | 2025 | 88 | 17.92 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 50 | 0 |
| VVS Laxman | 77 | 124 | 14 | 4698 | 281 | 42.71 | 10 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 81 | 0 |
| MM Patel | 6 | 7 | 2 | 32 | 13 | 6.40 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| I Pathan | 25 | 32 | 2 | 835 | 93 | 27.83 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| V Sehwag | 49 | 81 | 3 | 4066 | 309 | 52.13 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 38 | 0 |
| VRV Singh | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S Sreesanth | 5 | 7 | 3 | 75 | 29 | 18.75 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| S Tendulkar | 132 | 211 | 22 | 10469 | 248 | 55.39 | 35 | 41 | 12 | 6 | 82 | 0 |
| Zaheer Khan | 42 | 54 | 14 | 507 | 75 | 12.68 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Bowler | Tests | Ovs | Md | Runs | W | Best | 5WI | 10WM | Avg | SR | Eco |
| MS Dhoni | 13 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0-13 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 13.0 |
| R Dravid | 104 | 20 | 4 | 39 | 1 | 1-18 | 0 | 0 | 39.00 | 120.0 | 1.95 |
| Ganguly | 88 | 419.2 | 84 | 1419 | 26 | 3-28 | 0 | 0 | 54.58 | 96.77 | 3.38 |
| Harbhajan | 57 | 2526.6 | 521 | 7108 | 238 | 8-84 | 19 | 4 | 29.87 | 63.71 | 2.81 |
| W Jaffer | 14 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 2 | 2-18 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 33.00 | 1.64 |
| A Kumble | 110 | 5815.2 | 1414 | 15329 | 533 | 10-74 | 33 | 8 | 28.76 | 65.46 | 2.64 |
| Laxman | 77 | 42 | 10 | 100 | 1 | 1-32 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | 252.0 | 2.38 |
| M Patel | 6 | 229 | 49 | 680 | 24 | 4-25 | 0 | 0 | 28.33 | 57.25 | 2.97 |
| I Pathan | 25 | 846.2 | 185 | 2802 | 91 | 7-59 | 7 | 2 | 30.79 | 55.80 | 3.31 |
| V Sehwag | 49 | 198.4 | 33 | 628 | 12 | 3-33 | 0 | 0 | 52.33 | 99.33 | 3.16 |
| VRV Singh | 2 | 47 | 7 | 158 | 2 | 2-61 | 0 | 0 | 79.00 | 141.0 | 3.36 |
| Sreesanth | 5 | 169.5 | 41 | 566 | 19 | 4-70 | 0 | 0 | 29.79 | 53.63 | 3.33 |
| Tendulkar | 132 | 555 | 75 | 1893 | 37 | 3-10 | 0 | 0 | 51.16 | 90.00 | 3.41 |
| Zaheer | 42 | 1326.5 | 266 | 4398 | 121 | 5-29 | 3 | 0 | 36.35 | 65.79 | 3.31 |
Note: Out of the 16 players named in the Test squad, only 12 have played at least one Test against South Africa. Four players -- M S Dhoni, Munaf, V R V Singh and S Sreesanth -- are yet to play against South Africa.
Only eight players out of the 16 have played a Test on South African soil before. Apart from the four mentioned above, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik and Irfan Pathan are yet to make a Test appearance on South African soil.
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