Suresh Raina dropped, Faiz Faisal picked for Zimbabwe tour; Shardul Thakur rewarded with maiden Test call-up for WI series

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India's national selection committee on Monday announced squads for India's next two assignments.

The Sandeep Patil-led panel met in Mumbai to select the squads for the short tour of Zimbabwe and the West Indies-bound Test team. 

Senior players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been rested from tour of Zimbabwe.

Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur was the  only uncapped player in India's 17-member West Indies-bound Test team.

The 24-year-old right-arm medium pacer was a surprise pick in the 17-member squad with the selectors reposing their faith in the line-up that had played the last Test series against South Africa at home.

Thakur was rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic cricket where he took 41 wickets in 11 matches for Mumbai at an average of 24.51. His best figures in an innings were six for 107.

Varun Aaron, who was part of the team during the series against South Africa, was dropped with a fit-again Mohammed Shami returning to the squad which will have Ajinkya Rahane as its new vice-captain.

All-rounder Stuart Binny retained his place in the team announced by new BCCI Secretary Ajay Shirke following a meeting of the selection committee here.

The team, to be led by Virat Kohli, also had no place for veterans such as Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh despite their decent performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League. The tour of West Indies comprises four Tests in mid-July but the exact dates for the series are yet to be formalised.

"No one has been rested. No one wrote to BCCI or called us (to say) they were not available or they should be rested. It was the decision of the selection committee to pick a young side for Zimbabwe and another side for West Indies," selection panel head Sandeep Patil told reporters.

Kohli has been rested from the limited-overs series against Zimbabwe, scheduled from June 11 to 20, along with Murali Vijay and Ashish Nehra, who is due to undergo a surgery.

The selectors have opted to pick a completely new-look team for the tour of Zimbabwe with Vidharbha left-handed opener Faiz Fazal, off-spinner Jayant Yadav, Punjab middle-order batsman Mandeep Singh and IPL star Yuzvendra Chahal being the uncapped players in the side.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will captain the squad as he will be largely out of action due to India's busy Test schedule this year.

16-man squad for Zimbabwe tour

#TeamIndia for #ZimvInd ODIs and T20Is @msdhoni to lead the 16-member team pic.twitter.com/zxOP1GS7Dr — BCCI (@BCCI) May 23, 2016

MS Dhoni (Captain), KL Rahul, Faiz Fazal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Ambati Rayudu, R Dhawan,Akshar Patel,Jayant Yadav,Dhawal Kulkarni,J Bumrah,Barinder Sran,Mandeep Singh,Kedar Jadhav,Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal

17-man squad for West Indies tour 

#TeamIndia for #WIvInd Tests - @imVkohli to lead 17-member team pic.twitter.com/55oSfwp25R — BCCI (@BCCI) May 23, 2016

Virat Kohli(C), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant,Shami, B Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Stuart Binny

India are scheduled to play 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is in Zimbabwe.

(With PTI inputs)