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NEWS India-West Indies Series 2006>Ganguly not named in squad for Windies Test series 24th May 2006 23.08 IST By Agencies Extending their policy of blooding youngsters to the Test arena, national selectors today again ignored former captain Sourav Ganguly for the Test series in the West Indies. The selectors named VRV Singh and Suresh Raina in a 16-member squad for the Test series against the West Indies starting next month.
Taking the flight back home alongwith Agarkar after the one-dayers would be Rudra Pratap Singh , Venugopal Rao and Robin Uthappa while off-spinner Ramesh Powar will stay on after being awarded a berth in the Test squad for the first time. The selector also decided to pick Dinesh Kaarthick as the second wicketkeeper for the four-Test series ahead of Parthiv Ajay Patel . Raina found a place largely because of the spot left vacant by Sachin Tendulkar who yesterday opted out of the tour after failing to recover fully from a shoulder injury. The squad announced by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah had no place for Ganguly, who has been cooling his heels since the tour of Pakistan in January-February this year. Also failing to find favour with the selectors was left-arm speedster Zaheer Khan , who has been impressive in his county stint for Worcestershire. The selectors had a telephonic conversation with captain Rahul Dravid, coach Greg Chappell and co-selector Ranjib Biswal before naming the squad. Explaining the logic behind picking untested VRV ahead of Agarkar, Selection Committee Chairman Kiran More said the Punjab bowler was chosen with an eye on future. "VRV Singh was selected as we wanted to groom him for the future. He has done well in domestic cricket and also bowled well for India 'A' in Abu Dhabi except in the final (against Pakistan)," More said. "Also we consider Agarkar as a fine one-day cricketer whose Test record is not that impressive. He's done extremely well in the one-day matches in the West Indies and we are happy for him," the former India stumper said. More was referring to Agarkar's poor Test record of 58 wickets in 26 matches at a costly 47.32 per wicket as compared to his impressive one-day haul of 249 wickets in 162 ties at just over 27 per wicket. "Also, in Karachi (against Pakistan in January) on a seaming wicket, Agarkar was not considered for selection," More pointed out while adding he was not completely out of Test reckoning. Squad: Rahul Dravid (Capt.), Virender Shewag , VVS Laxman , Yuvraj Singh , Mohammad Kaif , Wasim Jaffer , Suresh Raina , Mahendra Dhoni , Harbhajan Singh , Anil Kumble , Irfan Pathan , S Sreesanth , Munaf Patel , VRV Singh , Ramesh Powar and Dinesh Kaarthick . Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-West Indies Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: West Indies | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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