Virender Sehwag will lead India in the first three one-day internationals against West Indies after the selectors decided to rest MS Dhoni. Sachin Tendulkar has also been rested for the first three matches, while Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh have been ignored.
Following the fourth day of the ongoing Test series, India's selectors opted to give Dhoni a break in what has been a long season for India. Dhoni, 30, has featured in 11 Tests, 24 ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals this year, as well as captaining Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and Champions League Twenty20. Parthiv Patel, who has been a part of India's limited-overs plans since the World Cup, has been named as the wicketkeeper.
Harbhajan has once again been ignored, having earlier been left out of the ODIs against England following a disappointing injury-ridden performance on the tour of England. His bowling has been criticised of late, with his 17 wickets in 17 ODIs in 2011 coming at an average of 41.29. The success of spinners Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin in the Tests against West Indies has left Harbhajan out in the cold.
Sehwag's elevation to the captaincy will also raise some eyebrows, considering he has voiced his opinion that Gautam Gambhir is a better candidate. Sehwag, 34, recently returned to the Indian set-up after missing the home ODIs against England which India won 5-0. He has been in decent form in the ongoing Test series, scoring 185 runs in four innings at 46.25. He has captained India seven times, the last of which was in December 2009.
Gambhir, India's vice-captain, had been handed the captaincy for five ODIs against New Zealand at home in late 2010, as several senior players headed to South Africa to prepare for the Test series. When Gambhir missed the limited-overs series in the West Indies this summer, Suresh Raina was appointed as captain. Now, however, the selectors have opted for Sehwag.
Tendulkar, who has not played any ODIs since the World Cup final, will have a few weeks to rest before the tour of Australia. His bid for an unprecedented 100th international century was once again left on hold as he fell six runs short of the landmark during the first session of the fourth day’s play in Mumbai.
India's squad contained five batsmen – Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Manoj Tiwary – one wicketkeeper-batsman - Patel - and one allrounder in Ravindra Jadeja. The bowling attack comprised five seamers - Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar - and two spinners in Ashwin and Rahul Sharma.
The ODI series starts on November 29 in Cuttack, followed by fixtures in Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Indore and Chennai. India’s squad to tour Australia will be announced on Saturday.
India squad: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Vinay Kumar, Rahul Sharma.
Courtesy CricketNext
