RP Singh returns, Munaf dropped from T20 World Cup squad

Paceman R P Singh was on Monday rewarded for his consistent performance in the ongoing IPL with a recall while fellow speedster Munaf Patel [ Images ] was dropped from India's 15-member squad for next month's Twenty20 [ Images ] World Cup in England [ Images ].

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik [ Images ], who figured in India's squad that played the last Twenty20 in New Zealand [ Images ] in February end, has also been dropped from the squad which has no major surprises. Hard-hitting batsman Robin Uthappa [ Images ] was also omitted.

India, who won the inaugural edition of the championship in South Africa [ Images ] in 2007, will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni [ Images ] while Virender Sehwag [ Images ] has been named his deputy.

The squad includes five specialist batsmen, five specialist pacers, two spinners, two all-rounders and a wicket-keeper in Dhoni.

The selectors had earlier announced a list of 30 probables for the event, to be held in England from June 5 to 21, and today pruned it to the final 15. All participating teams have to submit the final squad by Tuesday as per the ICC [ Images ] rules.

As expected, there are no major surprises in the squad which was picked up by the selection panel, headed by former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth [ Images ] via teleconference.

Among others who could not make it to the final 15 are Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay, Mumbai [ Images ] trio of Ajinkya Rahane [ Images ], Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar [ Images ], Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, Delhi [ Images ] batsman Virat Kohli [ Images ], Bengal duo of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, Haryana leggie Amit Mishra [ Images ], Tamil Nadu pacer L Balaji [ Images ] and Madhya Pradesh [ Images ] stumper Naman Ojha [ Images ].

Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin, who was named back-up for Harbhajan Singh [ Images ], also failed to survive the pruning exercise.

Youngsters Abhishek Raut, who plays for Rajasthan Royals [ Images ], and Bangalore's Shrivats Goswami also could not make the cut despite their decent showing in the Indian Premier League [ Images ].

Joginder Sharma, who is remembered for his last over in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 World Cup, could not find a place in the 30-member list of probables, along with Piyush Chawla [ Images ] and S Sreesanth [ Images ].

Sreesanth is recovering from a back injury and has not played competitive cricket for the last few months.

Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ] had opted out of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and continues to remain away from the shortest format of the game despite his good form in recent time.

Squad: M S Dhoni (c), Virender Sehwag (v-c), Gautam Gambhir [ Images ], Suresh Raina [ Images ], Yuvraj Singh [ Images ], Yusuf Pathan [ Images ], Rohit Sharma [ Images ], Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan [ Images ], Ishant Sharma [ Images ], Praveen Kumar [ Images ], RP Singh [ Images ], Ravindra Jadeja [ Images ], Pragyan Ojha [ Images ] and Irfan Pathan [ Images ].