Yuvraj Singh included in playing XI

Chennai: Yuvraj Singh will play his first Test in eight months after the dashing middle-order batsman was on Wednesday included in India’s playing XI for the first Test against England.

Yuvraj replaces Sourav Ganguly in the team who retired from international cricket after the Test series against Australia. That is the only change from the team that had played the last Test against Australia in Nagpur.

Yuvraj, who had played his last Test against South Africa at Kanpur in April, has been in sizzling form with two centuries in the recent ODI series against England before it was called off following the terror attacks in Mumbai.

Tamil Nadu batsmen S Badrinath and Murali Vijay, paceman Munaf Patel and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who are part of the 15-member squad, have been left out for the first Test beginning at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Thursday.

Yuvraj’s inclusion means that the home team will go into the game with seven batsmen and four specialist bowlers.

While the in-form Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma will spearhead the pace attack, Harbhajan Singh and leg spinner Amit Mishra, who has come into the team after the retirement of former captain and ace spinner Anil Kumble, will shoulder the spin bowling responsibility.

The team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.