In the most anticipated meeting, the Indian selection committee took the most expected decision by including former captain Sourav Ganguly for the Test series to Pakistan.
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Chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More said that his panel had selected the "best combination possible" for the three-Test series against Pakistan. The selection committee and coach Greg Chappell met in Mumbai on Saturday and deliberated for close to two hours before naming the team for the Test series.
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The selection committee chairman also clarified that this time Ganguly was taken as a pure "middle-order batsman" and not as an all-rounder, as the selectors had indicated after selecting him for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka.
Ganguly had met BCCI president Sharad Pawar in New Delhi earlier this week.
In a surprise move, the selectors decided to drop Mohammed Kaif to make way for Ganguly, saying that they needed more experience in the middle-order against a "better-prepared" Pakistan.
When questioned over the selectors backtracking over their comments after Ganguly had been left out of the Ahmedabad Test that they were preparing a team with an eye on the future, More said the selectors were not answerable to the media for every decision they take.
"We have some plans for the team, you don't need to know everything about it," More said.
G S Walia has been appointed as India's media manager.
The series schedule has been advanced by a day, with the Indian team departing for Pakistan on January 5, and the first Test in Lahore commencing on January 13.
Squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, RP Singh, VVS Laxman, Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir
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