Dravid gets surprise recall to ODI squad

Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid was on Sunday called up to the Indian ODI squad for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka and ICC Champions Trophy.

The former India captain, who last played an ODI two years back, in October 2007, was included in the 15-member squad along with Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested for the West Indies one-dayers.

As many as four changes were made to the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side, with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja getting the boot following failure in the four-match series in the West Indies, which India won 2-1.

Subramaniam Badrinath, Murali Vijay and Pragyan Ojha, who were not given opportunities in the Caribbean, were also shown the door.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who had a superb run in the Emerging Players' tournament in Australia, with 14 wickets in six matches, made it back to the ODI squad after a gap of nearly five years. But, shockingly, Virat Kohli, who excelled with the bat in the same tournament, with a tally of 398 runs in seven matches, was not considered by the national selectors at their meeting in Chennai.

The vulnerability of the younger Indian batmen against short deliveries in the ICC World Twenty20 in England, and also during the West Indies one-dayers, was a major factor that went in Dravid's favour.

The selectors were forced to include the veteran considering that the conditions in South Africa would also be bowler-friendly; besides, his record in the second season of the Indian Premier League (271 runs in 13 matches) helped.

Suresh Raina, having recovered from his thumb injury and proven his fitness to the selectors last week, was promptly given the nod.

Dinesh Karthik retained his place after a good showing in the West Indies as so did pacer Ashish Nehra, who was the highest wicket-taker in the Caribbean (6 wickets at 19.16).

The tri-series in Sri Lanka, which also includes New Zealand as the third team, starts on September 8, while the Champions Trophy will be played in South Africa from September 22.

The squad

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain)

2. Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain)

3. Sachin Tendulkar

4. Rahul Dravid

5. Gautam Gambhir

6. Suresh Raina

7. Yusuf Pathan

8. Dinesh Karthik

9. Abhishek Nayar

10. Harbhajan Singh

11. Amit Mishra

12. Ishant Sharma

13. R P Singh

14. Praveen Kumar

15. Ashish Nehra