Tendulkar returns to India’s ODI squad for Tri-series

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 00:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW DELHI (Reuters) : Sachin Tendulkar, who has not played a one-day international since last year’s World Cup, was named in India’s 50-over squad on Sunday for a Tri-series with Australia and Sri Lanka next month.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who has not played limited overs cricket since India won the World Cup final, is also back in the 17-member squad.

While the 38-year-old Tendulkar, who is still one short of an unprecedented 100 international centuries, has selected his one-day appearances, Zaheer has been out of action because of a troublesome ankle.

Pace bowler Praveen Kumar, who missed the test series in Australia with a fractured rib, was named as well by the selectors who met in Chennai, the Indian board said in a statement.

Yuvraj Singh, a key player in India’s limited overs setup, is yet to recover from a lung tumour and was left out.

India travel to Adelaide for the fourth and final test starting on Jan. 24, hoping to avert their second successive whitewash abroad.

They play two Twenty20 internationals against Australia on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3 before Sri Lanka join them for the Tri-series starting on Feb. 5.

Harbhajan Singh was ignored again as the selectors kept faith in off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, currently with the team in Australia, and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag,(vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan.