Mumbai, Ending days of speculation, Sourav Ganguly retained his place while Amit Mishra and Subramaniam Badrinath are the new faces in the Indian squad for the first two Tests against Australia.

The new selection committee, headed by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, threw another lifeline to Ganguly, who was dropped from the Rest of India (ROI) squad in Irani Trophy, fuelling speculation about the end of his career.

Ganguly had a bad series in Sri Lanka but his experience against Australia might have forced the selectors to prefer him over young blood in the 15-member squad selected for the Bangalore and Mohali Tests.

Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has played three one-dayers for India, making his debut way back in 2003 against South Africa, was rewarded for his excellent performance in the domestic competition.

Mishra took an impressive 46 wickets in 11 games in 2007 and also performed well in the Indian Premier League.

Tamil Nadu batsman Badrinath, who played in the ODI series against Sri Lanka as replacement for injured Sachin Tendulkar, also got a call-up. The right-hander has been the mainstay of the Tamil Nadu batting and also led the team in the last two seasons.

Selectors also showed faith in R.P. Singh who had been dropped from the Sri Lanka series.

Squad: Anil Kumble (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, S. Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, R.P. Singh.

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