Sachin opts out of Bangladesh tri-series, Ishant dropped
Rohit Sharma has been named to replace Sachin Tendulkar, who decided to take a break, in the 16-man squad announced for the tri-series in Bangladesh from January 4. Yuvraj Singh is in the squad despite a finger injury scare that kept him out of four matches in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. The squad was announced by BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan after a meeting of the selectors on December 25.
Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been dropped and replaced by Sreesnath and Ashok Dinda, who made his Twenty20 debut for India recently. Amit Mishra was preferred over Pragyan Ojha while Ravindra Jadeja retained his spot as the lone all-rounder.
Sreesanth, who missed the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka due to swine flu, has recovered and been named in the squad. Newcomer Sudeep Tyagi, a part of the current ODI squad, has kept his place despite not playing a game. Dinesh Karthik has been named as the second wicketkeeper in the squad to Bangladesh.
22-year-old Rohit, who was axed the ODI squad after a string of poor scores in limited-overs cricket, paved his way back through a triple-century in the last round of Ranji Trophy league matches.
The omission of Ishant, who had an eminently forgettable ODI series against Sri Lanka, was on expected lines. Some, however, feel that the promising youngster should be handled with care. Praveen, who played the first two matches of the Sri Lanka series, managed just one wicket and went at 6.76 runs per over.
India will play their first match in Bangladesh in Dhaka on January 5, against Sri Lanka, followed by fixtures on January 7, 10 and 11.
Meanwhile, MS Dhoni returns to lead India in the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka in Delhi on December 27. Sreesanth and Dinda are in the squad replacing Praveen and Ishant.
Squad for tri-series: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Sudeep Tyagi, Dinesh Karthik, Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Amit Mishra.
