JOIN USDhoni, Tendulkar rested for Windies one-dayers
The national selectors named a predictable 15-man squad for the first three matches, the only notable omission being Yuvraj Singh.
The Player of the World Cup, who like Tendulkar hasn’t played a one-day international since the April 2 triumph at the Wankhede stadium, is learnt to have informed the selectors that he wasn’t fully fit, and that he wanted to get fit and make runs in domestic cricket before being considered for selection to the national team again.
The squad consists of most of the players who did duty against England last month, though the Karnataka duo of Abhimanyu Mithun, called up as a replacement for the injured Umesh Yadav, and left-arm seamer S Arvind have both been left out.
There continues to be no place for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who should also find himself on the sidelines when the Test party for the Australia series is announced on Saturday.
The selectors will have to decide if they want to send a 16-man squad or a 17-man party. It is learnt that the team management is inclined towards the latter, in which case the squad will consist of eight batsmen, two wicket-keepers, five pacers and two spinners.
The squad basically picks itself, the only points of interest being which of Wriddhiman Saha or Parthiv Patel will be the reserve stumper, and who the fifth pacer will be, assuming that a fit-again Zaheer Khan links up with certainities Ishant Sharma, Yadav and Varun Aaron.
Squad for first three one-dayers: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma.