In the absence of Rahul Dravid, who has opted out, Ranchi-born Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to be named captain of the Indian squad for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa by the selectors here on Tuesday.

The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman, who turned 26 on July 7, is set to lead a team that is likely to include seniors Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, apart from Test and one-day discards Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Mohd Kaif.

With Dravid and two other ex-captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly skipping the September 11-28 tournament to give youngsters a chance, some new faces may get the nod apart from the experienced but out-of-favour trio Sehwag, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan.

The selectors have already short-listed 30 probables and will prune it down to 15.

One-day team
The ODI team for the seven-match ODI series against England is also to be picked on Tuesday and the selectors are likely to retain the team that vanquished South Africa in the three-match off-shore ODI series in Ireland in June.

Question marks persist on S Sreesanth who breached the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Test against England which India won at Trent Bridge to go 1-0 up in the series.

The Kerala pacer was docked 50 percent of his match fees for the breach by the ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle and could see his place usurped by another right-arm bowler, Munaf Patel, if selectors choose to send out a strong signal.

Baroda pacer Patel has started bowling in competitive matches in a tournament, now under way in Bangalore, after recovering from his lower back injury sustained in Bangladesh in May.

Mumbai youngster Rohit Sharma also failed to shine in the limited number of chances he got in Ireland and could give way to someone like Kaif who is leading the India ‘A’ squad now touring Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Raina fit again
Kaif’s UP team-mate Suresh Raina, who has declared himself fit from his knee injury, has still not played in competitive matches and fulfilled the BCCI criteria that players coming back from lay-offs have to prove their fitness in match conditions.

Another youngster Manoj Tiwari of Bengal is also recovering from his shoulder injury sustained in Bangladesh in May. Both have found a place in the Twenty20 probables list, but are yet to prove their match fitness.

Irfan’s elder brother Yousuf Pathan is a serious contender for the Twenty20 Cup with his ability to hit long and hard and bowl off-breaks. The ODI series against England commences on August 21.

Selection panel chief Dilip Vengsarkar, who is in England, would have a telephonic conference with his co-selectors Sanjay Jagdale, Venkatapathi Raju, Bhupinder Singh Sr and Ranjib Biswal.