Chennai, Dec. 21: With the five one-dayers against South Africa being the last chance for senior players to get into match mode for the 2011 World Cup, the BCCI senior selection committee on Tuesday named a full strength squad for the series.
Sachin Tendulkar returns to the shorter format after his record-breaking 200 in Gwalior in February. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla who last played in an ODI against Pakistan in July, 2008, has also been named in the 15-member squad. With time running out, the selectors decided on the squad via tele-conference. India will also play a solitary T20 in Durban for which, Tendulkar might not be available. Ishant Sharma, who missed the home series against Australia and the Kiwis after the tri-series in Dambulla, has also fallen out of favour. This could be an indication of the speedster not being in the World Cup mix. “I am confident of this team doing well in South Africa and the next two Test matches will certainly see an improved performance,” said chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth.
The only surprise was the committee deciding against a reserve wicketkeeper. Youngster Saurabh Tiwary and Rohit Sharma have also been left out.
The team
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain, wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, R. Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S. Sreesanth.