New Delhi: Batsman Suresh Raina staged a comeback Thursday to the Indian ODI team exactly a year after he was dropped while Haryana off-spinner Jayant Yadav was the lone new face in India’s 15-member ODI team for the first three games of a five-match series against New Zealand, starting October 16.
The selectors decided to give spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja a break along with pacer Mohammed Shami. Medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah, batsman Mandeep Singh and Kedar Jadhav were included in the squad announced by new chairman of selectors MSK Prasad after a meeting of the committee here.
The team, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, retained batsman Manish Pandey, while paceman Umesh Yadav was brought back into the team after missing the Zimbabwe tour.
The team had no place for left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who had forced his way back into the Test team after some solid knocks in the domestic circuit. Prasad said Gambhir’s name was discussed but ‘we need continuity and we want to groom Mandeep as an opener. He did extremely well against Australia A Down Under’.
The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh and Kedar Jadhav.
Press Trust of India