Tendulkar rested for B,desh Tri-series, Ishant dropped

New Delhi:

Sachin Tendulkar was rested while pacemen Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were on Friday dropped from India's 16-member squad for next month's Tri-series in Bangladesh.

Temperamental speedster S Sreesanth, who missed the ODI series against Sri Lanka because of swine flu, and Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda were included in the ODI squad for the Tri-series announced by the BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan after a selection committee meeting here.

Ishant, who has been in poor form in recent times, was not only axed from the Tri-series squad but was also not included in the team for the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka here on Sunday.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was also left out of the Tri-series squad with the national selectors preferring leg spinner Amit Mishra to share the spin bowling responsibilities with Harbhajan Singh.

Dashing left-hander Yuvraj Singh, who only played one match in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, has been named in the Tri-series squad which has no new face.

"Sachin Tendulkar desired to be rested for the Tri-series at Bangladesh. He will play the Tests against Bangladesh," Srinivasan said in a BCCI press release issued tonight.

Virender Sehwag, who led India when Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unavailable following the two-match suspension for slow over-rate, has been named vice-captain of the Tri-series squad.

Rohit Sharma, who figured in India's Twenty20 squad, has also been recalled for the Tri-series in Dhaka from January 4-13.

Apart from India, hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the two other teams.

The Tri-series will be followed by a two-match Test series in Chittagong (Jan 17-21) and Dhaka (Jan 24-28).

The team to be captained by Dhoni has six specialist batsmen, two specialist spinners and five pacemen. It has one all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja who has been quite effective as left-arm spinner and two wicketkeepers in captain Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik.

In the absence of Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir is likely to open the innings with his Delhi teammate Sehwag while it will be interesting to see who bats at the crucial number three position.

Zaheer Khan will spearhead the pace attack which also has Ashish Nehra and Sreesanth besides the two two rookies Sudip Tyagi and Ashok Dinda.

Squad for the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka:

MS Dhoni (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Dinesh Karthik, S Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha.

Sqaud for the Tri-series: MS Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag (Vice-Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Sudeep Tyagi, Dinesh Karthik, S Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Amit Mishra.