Mumbai, July 12: Senior members of the Indian cricket team who had missed the tour to the West Indies left for the series in England early Tuesday morning from Mumbai.
Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, India’s World Cup-hero Yuvraj Singh and opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who had missed the Caribbean series due to health concerns, left the city to join the rest of the squad who will fly in directly from the West Indies. Batsman-keeper Wriddhiman Saha and fast bowler S Sreesanth completed the set of players who departed together for the much-anticipated tour.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar is already in England; opener Virender Sehwag, who is recuperating from a shoulder injury, will be joining the team soon.
The tour begins with a practice game against Somerset (July 15-17) followed by four Test matches, one Twenty20 game and five One-Day Internationals. The series, expected to be a tough contest between two top sides, goes on till September 16.
It might be recalled that during their last tour to England (in 2007), India had beaten the hosts in a three-Test series 1-0.
Squad : Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Gautam Gambhir (v/c), Abhivan Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Virender Sehwag
