Gambhir, Yuvraj out; Karthik returns in India's CT squad

Opener Gautam Gambhir and middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh were today axed while stumper Dinesh Karthik was rewarded for his good batting form with a berth in India's 15-member squad for next month's Champions Trophy cricket tournament in England.
Apart from Karthik, all-rounder Irfan Pathan, pacers Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar also made a comeback to the side announced BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the selection committee here.
The selection committee, headed by former cricketer Sandeep Patil, however, surprisingly picked Murali Vijay in the team ahead of the left-handed Gambhir. Vijay has not been in the best of form and has been dropped from even his IPL franchise, the Chennai Super Kings.

Paceman Ashok Dinda, who has been getting a lot of stick in the IPL, and batsman Ajinkya Rahane were also left out of the squad, which has Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain for the event starting June 6.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, performing well in the IPL, was also included in the team to complement Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin -- the two other specialist tweakers in the side.
Shikhar Dhawan, who made his Test debut with a breathtaking 187 against Australia recently, expectedly got the selectors' nod as the number one opener.

The national selectors sprung a surprise by sacking Gambhir, whose form has been patchy of late. He has scored 320 runs in 11 games in the ongoing IPL, including three half-centuries.

Gambhir has, however, been named in the probables' list for the tri-series in the West Indies, which will follow the Champions Trophy. In that list, six players -- Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ambati Rayudu, Rahul Sharma and Gambhir -- were added to the 15 named for the Champions Trophy.
Gambhir's omission did come as a surprise, particularly after his long-time partner Virender Sehwag was not even included in the 30-member probables list.