India's captain was on Thursday ruled out of Asia Cup due to a Grade 1 left side injury.
Team India, set for a gruelling tour of Australia, looked in top gear as they practiced diligently during a nets session on the eve of the first Test in Adelaide on Monday.
Birthday wishes pour in for captain cool Dhoni
It will come as little comfort to India after going 2-0 down in the four-match Test series against Australia but the young touring party have already put on a much better showing than the much vaunted 2011-2012 vintage.
The 19-year-old Samson and 26-year-old Karn were rewarded for consistent performances in the domestic circuit as well as India 'A' engagements.
Up-and-coming Karnataka batsman Lokesh Rahul and Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Karn Sharma were named in India's 19-man Test squad for the tour of Australia, which was announced after the selection committee of the Board for Control of Cricket in India met in Mumbai on Monday morning. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will miss the opening Test, from December 4, at the Gabba in Brisbane, because of an injury and Virat Kohli will stand in for him.
Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron arrived late at the Gabba on the fourth morning of the second Test against Australia even as their teammates were dramatically collapsing out in the middle, according to a report.
Indian limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday retained in Group A of the men's player contracts for 2015-16 by the BCCI.
Ravindra Jadeja, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury, was included as the selectors felt that he would recover in time for the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Images from the Day 3 of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Galle.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to put in some serious thinking in the next few days as to what exactly will be his team's bowling combination in the first Test against England in Nottingham, starting on July 9.
There is not a single Australian in the side.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Sunday, made light of the criticism he is facing in the wake of continuing poor results by saying that a review of his leadership can be done only through PIL.
Expect some fireworks for the highly-versatile Cameron Green along with Quinton de Kock, Matheesha Pathirana, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi.
CSK, with their experience of winning important moments, will certainly make Capitals wary.
Battered and bruised after four successive defeats, India will make a last-gasp effort to avoid the embarrassment of being whitewashed by an unrelenting Australia when the two sides clash in the fifth and final One-Day International in Sydney, on Saturday.
Following the debacle in the New Zealand ODI series, the selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma and axed them from India's squad for the Asia Cup later this month. Cheteshwar Pujara, who played two ODIs in Zimbabwe in August, made a comeback to the ODI squad.
Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament encounter, in Mohali on Sunday.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar were rested and Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhimaan Saha recalled to India's 16-member ODI squad for the tour of the West Indies.
Did India give up too easily? Are our bowlers really so bad? Were the players afraid of getting injured before the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League later this year?
India will be without many key players in the tri-series due to injuries but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni says it's a blessing in disguise as it presents them with an opportunity to test bench strength ahead of the 2011 World Cup.
Injury-hit Indian bowlers are in desperate need of timely breaks, said skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday, insisting that the workload on them is "a bit too much" compared to the batsmen.
Images from Day 1 of the third Test between India and England, in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Terming India's prospects as very strong in the 2015 World Cup, former Australia captain Allan Border opined that Team India do have the "skills to match the best sides in the world but they will certainly have to have more "attitude" and "self belief" to make a mark in Australia and New Zealand.
Former New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe feels the Kiwis have a fair chance of winning the upcoming ODI and Test series if they prepare pitches that would assist seamers.
Following Monday's selection, Rajneesh Gupta presents the Test career figures of the touring party along with the players' performance against Australia.
Before the selectors meet again to finalise the squad, you can take on the role and pick 15 players from the 30-member probables list you feel are best to represent the country at the 2015 World Cup.
Monday's win at Lord's was only the second time India has won a Test at the Mecca of Cricket in 82 years. A look back at when it happened for the first time...
Monday's win at Lord's was only the second time India has won a Test at the Mecca of Cricket in 82 years. A look back at when it happened for the first time...
Mahendra Singh Dhoni returned to the team after missing the first two matches.
MS Dhoni is ready for limited overs series against South Africa.
India'a injury woes continued with medium pacer Praveen Kumar heading home after sustaining an elbow injury on the eve of their five-match ODI series against South Africa starting on Wednesday.
Karnataka pacer Ranganath Vinay Kumar was on Friday rewarded for a consistent domestic performance with a place in India's 15-member squad for Twenty20 World Cup, in the West Indies, next month.
Images from the ICC Champions Trophy second semi-final between India and Sri Lanka in Cardiff, on Thursday.
Virat Kohli and Jonathan Trott were involved in a verbal duel during the fourth day of the final Test between India and England in Nagpur on Sunday.
Suresh Kumar scored a match-winning 87 to help India Blue beat India Red by one-wicket in a thriller at the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy cricket tournament in Nagpur.
Australia batsman Andrew Symonds, who scored a century on Day 1 of the second Test against India, admitted edging a delivery from Ishant Sharma to Mahendra Singh Dhoni while batting on 30.
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators announced a new category 'A+' with an annual retainership of Rs. 7 crore. The top category includes the likes of captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand in the first One-Day International in Napier on Tuesday. For India, pacer Ishant Sharma was rested after injuring his shoulder during the second Twenty20 International against New Zealand. He was replaced by Praveen Kumar, while Munaf Patel took the place of Irfan Pathan. Sachin Tendulkar, who missed out on the last two one-dayers against Sri Lanka, also returns to the Indian team.
The Indian selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing pace duo Ishant Sharma and R Vinay Kumar and ignored them for the upcoming three-match One Day International series against the West Indies.
