The Indian selectors have selected former India skipper Sourav Ganguly for the first two Tests against Australia.

There was some speculation throughout the day that Ganguly would be given a chance to make an honourable exit.

It was almost expected that The Prince of Calcutta would call it quits if he had not been picked up for the first two Tests. He had been omitted from the Rest of India squad for the Irani trophy.

However, the youngsters who were given a chance did not make much of an impact. It was initially decided to announce a 14 member squad but the selectors pooped in a surprise with Badrinath's selection.

Another surprise inclusion was legspinner Amit Mishra, who pipped left arm spinners Pragyan Ojha and Murali Karthik to the post.

In fact, Mishra's selection was such a surprise that the BCCI President's XI playres gaped in surprise when the list was read out and they came to know that Ojha did not make the cut in the Indian team. Ojha is actually in the BCCI President's XI team.

Mishra did well in the limited chances he got during the IPL for Delhi Daredevils but has never crossed selection meetings more than a passing name, whereas Ojha had become more of a regular in the ODI team.

Meanwhile, Badri said he was expecting the call up: "I am very very happy. I don't have words to explain how excited to have. This is a dream come true for me."

"I cannot ask more than facing Australia, the best team in the world."Asked how big an advantage, the tour game would be, Badri said: "I will get to face the bowlers here and that would be a huge plus."

Badri said the Australians have a great pace attack but an inexperienced spin attack.

Another India hopeful Rohit Sharma told espnstar.com that even though he was not selected, he was not disappointed with the selection. In fact, he said he would now concentrate on the tour game starting tomorrow so that he could be in contention for a spot for the third and fourth Tests.

India squad for first two Tests:

Anil Kumble (captain), Gautam Gambhir,Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni (wk) Sourav Ganguly, S. Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma and R.P.Singh