CHENNAI, India, CMC – India’s selectors named a 16-man squad yesterday without batting ace Sachin Tendulkar for their One-Day International (ODI) series against West Indies later this month.
Tendulkar has opted out of the tour to rest an injured finger and key pacer Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina will also be missing.
India and West Indies will meet in four ODIs – in Jamaica on June 26 and 28 and in St Lucia on July 3 and 5.
The 36-year-old Tendulkar is on the mend from a finger injury he picked up during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Khan, recovering from a shoulder injury, was also given more time to rest.
Sehwag and Raina are hurt and were not considered for selection.
Sehwag is recovering from a shoulder injury and Raina has a hairline fracture on the thumb.
Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra is back — after a four-year absence – to resume his international career of 17 Tests and 72 ODIs and the squad also includes the uncapped Abhishek Nayar and inexperienced Murali Vijay.
All-rounder Nayar is an attacking left-handed batsman and right-arm medium pacer, who was outstanding for Mumbai Indians in the recent IPL tournament.
Vijay, who played a single Test match in 2008 against Australia, appeared for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2009.
INDIA SQUAD – Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Rudra Pratap Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik.
