Paving the way for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's comeback to international cricket action after a six-month injury lay-off, national selectors on Sunday named the bowler among 20 probables for the Asia Cup tournament beginning in Sri Lanka next month.
The selectors, who had earlier named 24 players for a fitness camp, pruned the list excluding Test opener Aakash Chopra, leg spinner Sairaj Bahutule, Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir and fast bowler Munaf Patel.
Also making it to the probables' list was left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan who had to pull out of the Pakistan tour due to a hamstring injury, and Rohan Gavaskar who had missed the trip to the neighbouring country after making his debut in Australia early this year.
Announcing the list, Cricket Board Secretary S K Nair said the 20 shortlisted players would assemble in Chennai for a training camp from July 3 to 8.
"The team for Asia Cup would be named on July 7," he added.
Probables: Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Hemang Badani, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, L Balaji, Amit Bhandari and Rohan Gavaskar.
Nair also named eight speedsters as "support" for the probables at the Chennai camp. These bowlers, who had also undergone a special camp for pacers earlier this month are Munaf Patel, Avishkar Salvi, S S Paul, Siddharth Trivedi, Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma, N C Aiyappa and Gagandeep Singh.
The Asia Cup, the first match of which begins in Colombo on July 16, features six nations including powerhouses Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Nair said fitness trainer Gregory Allen King, who had conducted the week-long fitness camp which concluded in Bangalore yesterday, had declared that all the probables were fit.
"All the probables are fit as reported by trainer Gregory Allen King," he said.
The BCCI Secretary also said that an India 'A' team would tour Zimbabwe and Kenya in the next two months.
The 'A' team would play three 4-day games against Zimbabwe next month before proceeding in August to Nairobi, where they would take part in a tri-nation tournament involving Pakistan 'A' and Kenya.
