Mumbai, Nov 27:
Unfazed by the humiliating defeat in the second cricket Test against England, national selectors today persisted with the same squad giving under-fire star players another chance to prove their worth in the third match starting December 5 in Kolkata.
The selectors refrained from making major changes to the team barring the inclusion of paceman Ashok Dinda for an injured Umesh Yadav. Dinda had been called as a cover for Ishant Sharma in the first Test and Yadav in the second Test though he did not get to play.
Harbhajan retained his place in the squad despite picking up two wickets in the Mumbai Test where he bowled just 23 overs unlike Ashwin and Ojha who sent down nearly 45 overs each.
Also retained was senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who has been going through a prolonged form slump, his last 10 innings yielding just 153 runs at an average of 15.3, the lowest by an Indian top-order batsman in the corresponding period.
The Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Zaheer Khan. (PTI)
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