Former Captain Rahul Dravid makes a return back into the One Day fold as the Selectors decided to go for his reliability rather than sticking with the emerging talent Rohit Sharma. The Selectors today have picked a 15-man squad for both the Compaq Cup Tri-Series (Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand) and the Champions Trophy which begin next month. Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan have been left out of the squad due to injuries.
The Selectors have come up with a few changes with impressive left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha getting dropped in favour of the attacking leggie Amit Mishra. As expected Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina return back after missing the West Indies tour with injuries. Making way for this two batsmen are the Tamil Nadu duo of Subramaniam Badrinath and Murali Vijay.
Mumbai’s limited overs’ specialist Abhishek Nayar retained his place although he didn’t get enough opportunities at the international level so far. Dinesh Karthik remains in the side as a cover for Wicket Keeper Captain MS Dhoni.
On the bowling front, Ashish Nehra got another opportunity owing to the injury of Zaheer Khan. Irfan Pathan who didn’t figure in the 30-men probables finds himself left out of reckoning.
The Tri-Series in Sri Lanka begins on the 8th of next month while the Champions Trophy in South Africa is from the 22nd of September.
India Squad for the Sri Lanka Tri-Series and Champions Trophy 2009 in South Africa
- MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper)
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Gautam Gambhir
- Suresh Raina
- Yuvraj Singh
- Dinesh Karthik (Wicket Keeper)
- Yusuf Pathan
- Rahul Dravid
- Abhishek Nayar
- Harbhajan Singh
- Praveen Kumar
- Ashish Nehra
- Amit Mishra
- Ishant Sharma
- RP Singh
- Gary Kirsten (Coach)