Mahendra Singh Dhoni could lead a 16-man squad sans Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan during India's forthcoming five-match ODI series against West Indies, it is learnt
Mahendra Singh Dhoni could lead a 16-man squad sans Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan during India's forthcoming five-match ODI series against West Indies, it is learnt.
The national selection committee will meet here today to select the ODI and T20 squads for the Caribbean tour.
From the 15-man World Cup-winning squad, Subramaniam Badrinath and Rohit Sharma are set to replace Sehwag and Tendulkar while Vinay Kumar and Ishant Sharma could replace Zaheer Khan (to be rested) and S Sreesanth (to be dropped).
Sachin Tendulkar looks at his bat during the net session at the PCA
Stadium in Mohali on March 28. PIC/SURESH K.K
Piyush Chawla is set to lose his spot to either young leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who is being hailed as a find of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) or Amit Mishra, who has been in decent wicket-taking form for Deccan Chargers. Yusuf Pathan will retain his place.
There could be a toss-up between Parthiv Patel and Ambati Rayudu for the slot of the second wicketkeeper, but Patel's experience with the gloves and ability to open the batting in the absence of Sehwag and Tendulkar, could give him the edge. It's also possible for Rayudu to be taken on the trip just to play the one-off T20 international.
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Likely squad:
MS Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Ambati Rayudu (wicketkeeper)/Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra/ Rahul Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel.