Munaf Patel

Nagpur: Twenty two-year-old quick Munaf Patel on Sunday earned a Test call-up while a fit Yuvraj Singh returned to Team India squad for the second Test against England in Mohali beginning Thursday.

Patel, who played a key role in Board President’s XI victory over England in Vadodara in the warm-up match, preceding the first Test here, replaced Vikram Rajvir Singh in the squad. Suresh Raina, on the other hand, made way for Yuvraj.

“Suresh Raina is an outstanding player, and is part of the grooming process. But we have to pick Yuvraj,” chief selector Kiran More said.

More admitted VRV has been dumped without getting a chance to prove himself. “VRV has not played much, and we want him to go back and play domestic cricket. Munaf, on the other hand, has been in great form and we’ve some specific gameplan for him,” More added, indicating that the quick might make his debut in Mohali.

He further noted that “we would certainly go in with specialist openers (in the second Test),” while maintaining that “(Wasim) Jaffer batted brilliantly here and the selectors were very happy with his performance.”

Captain Rahul Dravid earlier stated that “with Yuvraj fit now, we are going to have choices to make. Someone is probably going to be unlucky but that’s the way life is.”