Ramdin played in last year's U19 World Cup

Ramdin replaces experienced Courtney Browne, one of the batting heroes of their Champions Trophy win last year.

There are no other major surprises in the 13-man party, but the selectors intend to add two more from the A team, which left for Sri Lanka on Friday.

West Indies will play two Tests during the tour and take part in a triangular one-day series, also involving India.

Browne's exclusion from the squad comes only days after his wicket-keeping in recent home series against South Africa and Pakistan was defended by chief selector Joey Carew.

"Whenever we lose, people tend to look for scapegoats" he was quoted as saying.

Ramdin, from Couva in Trinidad, captained West Indies at last year's Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, when they reached the final before losing to Pakistan.

He has only played 13 first-class matches, but already has a century to his credit, and was preferred to Jamaican rival Carlton Baugh.

The build-up to the tour, meanwhile, again looks like being overshadowed by an ongoing row between the West Indies Cricket Board and the players' association, WIPA.

They have been at loggerheads for months and have so far failed to reach agreement on the tour contracts sent to the players, in particular clause five, which covers sponsorship and endorsement deals.

Talks were held last Friday which failed to resolve the issue, which is currently the subject of a judicial review by Mr Justice Adrian Saunders.

"Despite this setback, the WICB is committed to completing all aspects of the negotiations with WIPA and is in the process of formalising a new proposal to WIPA with respect to retainer contracts to present at the next meeting," said a Board statement.

Earlier this year, seven players, including batting star Brian Lara, were dropped because of personal deals with Cable and Wireless, which conflicted with the team's sponsor, Digicel.

Six of them, however, were later recalled to the squad.

West Indies squad: Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Darren Powell, Dinesh Ramdin, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith.

West Indies A squad: Daren Ganga (captain), Narsingh Deonarine, Carlton Baugh, Dave Bernard, Tino Best, Kerry Jeremy, Jermaine Lawson, Xavier Marshall, Dave Mohammed, Runako Morton, Nikita Miller, Ryan Ramdass, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Dwight Washington.