Yusuf, Ojha new faces in India team; Munaf, Karthik out

Mumbai, May 30 (UNI) Baroda all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha were today rewarded for their consistent performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a place in the 15-member Indian squad for the ODI tri-series in Bangladesh and the ensuing Asia Cup in Pakistan.

The selection commitee, which met here today to choose the team for the two tours under the chairmanship of Dilip Vengsarkar, left out Dinesh Karthik and Munaf Patel, who played in the CB Series Down Under.

The inclusion of Yusuf, who is the brother of Irfan Pathan, was on expected lines after his stand-out performances for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He has scored 334 runs at 27.83 from 13 innings with three 50s, and recorded the fastest half-century of the Twenty20 tournament off 21 balls against the Deccan Chargers.

He also took five wickets at 41.60 with his offspin.

Ojha was one of the exceptions in an otherwise lacklustre performance by his team, Deccan, who lost 12 of their 14 matches.

He took 11 wickets at 25.81, and his best figures were 2 for 18 in their IPL opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Making a comeback into the Indian team after an injury lay off is southpaw Suresh Raina. Raina, who played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL has also impressed with his form which has resulted in his inclusion.

The selection committee however has decided to leave out the two former India captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Both of them were dropped from the one-day squad last season and they still have not found a way back.

Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan were not considered as they were carrying injuries, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah told newspersons.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt&wk), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha.

UNI GS MAZ AB ND1550