MUMBAI, (Reuters) – Rahul Dravid received a surprise recall to India’s one-day squad after a two-year absence while selectors left out the injured Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh for the limited-overs series against England.
The last time the 38-year-old Dravid, who has scored 10,765 runs from 339 ODIs, played an ODI was in September 2009 against West Indies during the Champions Trophy in South Africa.
India are struggling in England and the world’s top-ranked test side trail 2-0 with two tests left in the four-match series.
“We have selected the team on basis of the conditions in England. We have selected the team after a lot of deliberation and I am sure it is a very good side,” selection committee chief Krishnamachari Srikkanth told reporters.
Off-spinner Harbhajan and batsman Yuvraj were excluded from the squad after they suffered injuries during India’s 319-run defeat in the second test at Trent Bridge.
Left-hander Yuvraj fractured his index finger after he was hit by a short-pitched delivery from England seamer Tim Bresnan while Harbhajan suffered an abdominal muscle strain.
“Yuvraj Singh is one of our main players but unfortunately when you have a fracture in the finger, you cannot do anything about it,” Srikkanth said after the selection committee meeting in Chennai.
Seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth failed to find a spot as India went with Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and R. Vinay Kumar as the five pacemen in the 16-man squad.
ODI world champions India will play a Twenty20 match on Aug. 31 followed by five ODIs starting on Sept. 3.
Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Rahul Dravid, Parthiv Patel, Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, R. Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel.
