NEW DELHI: Ravindra Jadeja has been recalled to India’s squad for the first two Tests against against South Africa.

Jadeja, who has been overlooked for recent limited-overs squads after being dropped for Test matches in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, was selected in 16-man squad announced Monday following some impressive performances with bat and ball in the domestic Ranji Trophy tournament.

The allrounder took 24 wickets in two games with his left-arm spin and also scored 91 and 58 in his two innings playing for Saurashtra.

“We’ve been watching domestic cricket and considered a number of players before picking the teams,” chief selector Sandeep Patil said. “We picked Jadeja considering the kind of wickets we are supposed to be playing on in the tests.”

Harbhajan Singh was left out of the squad, with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin expected to lead the slow bowling attack after missing most of the ongoing limited-overs series against South Africa with a side strain.

Ishant Sharma, who will have to serve out a one-test ban imposed during the Sri Lanka tour for bad behavior, has been included in the squad.

The four-Test series starts Nov. 5 in Mohali, with the second Test in Bangalore from Nov. 14. The squad for the third and fourth tests, in Nagpur and New Delhi starting Nov. 25 and Dec. 3, wil be announced during the series.

Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav has been dropped for the last two ODI games against South Africa and replaced by left-arm pace bowler Sreenath Aravind.

South Africa leads the ODI series 2-1 and also won a preceding three-game Twenty20 series 2-0.

India lost the first one-dayer by five runs and the third by 18 runs despite having a number of wickets in hand.

“We’re concerned and have had detailed discussions with the team management,” Patil said. “Nobody is happy about losing a game that we should have won but we still back the team and the team management.”

Squads:

For two Tests: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Lokesh Rahul, Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma.

For last two ODIs: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Gurkeerat Singh, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sreenath Aravind.