Former captain Sourav Ganguly was yesterday named in India's squad for the limited-overs international series against the West Indies starting next week, while aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was dropped from the team.
The 34-year-old Ganguly, returns to the Indian one-day squad 16 months after being omitted due to his indifferent form and a public spat with national coach Greg Chappell during the 2005 tour of Zimbabwe.
Ganguly has since played several Test matches and his return to the one-day squad comes after emerging as the top scorer in the Test series during India's disastrous tour of South Africa.
South Africa outplayed India 4-0 in the one-dayers before winning the Test series 2-1.
"Ganguly has done well, that's why he's here in the team," chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said after the selection panel's meeting in the western town of Rajkot.
Ganguly was India's most successful captain, leading the country to victories in 21 Tests and 76 one-dayers.
The normally reliable Sehwag had a disappointing tour of South Africa, prompting the selectors to remove him from the team's vice captaincy after the one-dayers.
Sehwag continued to be part of the Indian Test side, but again failed with the bat.
"Sehwag has to sort out his batting, he needs to go back to nets to sort things out," Vengsarkar said. "He's a good batsman, the break will do him good and he can soon be back in the team."
Allrounder Irfan Pathan, opener Wasim Jaffer, middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif and leg-spinner Anil Kumble are the other notable omissions from India's 15-member squad for the first two games of the four-match limited-overs series against the West Indies, which begins on Jan. 21 in Nagpur.
Vengsarkar said the Indian team should rediscover its winning form ahead of the World Cup, to be played in the West Indies in March and April.
``Winning is important for us,'' Vengsarkar said.
India squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Robin Uthappa, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh and Rudra Pratap Singh.
RSS