Mumbai: Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has been dropped while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh makes a comeback in the India squad for the first two of the four-match Test series against Australia starting February 22.

The Sandip Patil-headed selection committee that met at the Cricket Centre on Sunday also included two opening batsmen Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, who were impressive for Rest of India against Mumbai in the Irani Cup.

Board secretary Sanjay Jagdale in a statement said that Gambhir replaces Dhawan in the India A side that will play a three-day warm-up game against Australia from Feb 16-18. Gambhir will lead India A.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Murali Vijay and Ishant Sharma