Sehwag, Harbhajan and Pathan back in Indian squad

Aug 07: Today, Indian cricket team selectors announced the name of the final fifteen names for the up coming Twenty20 World Cup and also a 15-men squad for the seven-match ODI series in England starting from Aug 21.

The 12-nation world championship is going to take place in the coming month (Sep 11 to Sep 24) in South Africa in which the name of wicket keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been announced as the captain of the team. And all-rounder Yuvraj Singh will be the vice-captain.

Also the most destructive opening batsman Virender Sehwag, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and ace pace bowler Irfan Pathan have been recalled into the team. Keeping in mind the format of the Twenty20 cricket these experienced along with some of the most talented young players have been included to maintain a perfect balance.

The absence of Indian top order batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have certainly paved the way for young players like Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Gautam Gambhir to grip the batting lineup.

Dhoni’s aggressive batting in both format of the game has kept his name an obvious choice for the selectors both in the Twenty20 and One-day team list. Now he has to lead the team in the shorter version of the game and also share responsibility in the One Day Internationals as the vice-captain along with Dravid as the skipper.

Apart from Dhoni, players like Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh have been named for both the teams. Munaf Patel has recalled for the ODI but not for Twenty20.

However, aggressive fast bowler S. Sreesanth has been only included among the 15-men of Twenty20 and Ramesh Powar in the One-day team.

Twenty20 WC: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Yuvraj Singh (VC), Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S. Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma.

One-day (Beginning from Aug 21): Rahul Dravid (Capt), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (VC), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar.