Gambhir had been named captain after regular skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was rested for the lone Twenty20 and five One-Day Internationals
starting on June 4. India will also play three Test matches against West Indies.
Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested for the limited-overs
series, will not get a chance to reach his 100th international century until
India tour England later this year as he too opted out of the Tests to spend
time with his family.
Yuvraj Singh was also ruled out of the full tour of the
Caribbean due to a lung infection, the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) said in a statement.
"He (Yuvraj) is suffering from an upper respiratory
infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung," BCCI
secretary N. Srinivasan said.
Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsman
Manoj Tiwary will fill the void left by Gambhir and Yuvraj in the Twenty20 and
one-day teams.
World champions India, also ranked No.1 in Tests, will be
without their regular openers during the tour as Virender Sehwag was also ruled
out after undergoing shoulder surgery in England.
Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli are the only players in the
squad who have not played a test match. Left-hander Mukund and Murali Vijay
will probably be handed the opening duties during the three-test series.
Dhoni will return to captain the test side and left-arm
paceman Zaheer Khan will lead the bowling attack.
"Sachin Tendulkar requested that he be allowed to spend
time with his family. He will therefore not play the test series,"
Srinivasan said.
"However, he will be available for the full tour of
England, that follows."
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Vangipurappu
Laxman, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam
Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Amit
Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.
