India to name ODI squad on January 15

The BCCI's selection committee will meet in Chennai on January 15 to pick the squad for the limited-overs leg of the Australia tour. India will play two Twenty20s against Australia from February 1, and then a tri-series that also involves Sri Lanka.

In a letter sent to the five national selectors, dated January 7, Sanjay Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, has asked chief selector Krish Srikkanth and his colleagues to assemble in Chennai to pick the squad. The panel is likely to pick a 16-man squad, and allrounder Yuvraj Singh will in all probability return. Yuvraj, who has been convalescing from a non-malignant lung tumour, said last week that he has 'completely recovered and been training for the last two weeks'.

In 2008, India, under MS Dhoni, had won the Commonwealth Bank Series, which also involved Sri Lanka. They beat Ricky Ponting's Australia 2-0 in the best-of-three finals, played in Sydney and Brisbane. That victory came immediately after India had lost a hard-fought Border-Gavaskar Trophy by a 1-2 margin. This time around, India are already 2-0 down, going into the third Test that begins at the WACA this Friday.

Incidentally, in 2008 the Commonwealth Bank, the sponsor of the tri-series, had decided to discontinue sponsorship. Now it has revived the deal, primarily due to the extra value it fetches in terms of TV rights.