Harbhajan Singh dropped from India's one-day squad

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Harbhajan Singh dropped from India's one-day squad

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Indian selectors dropped senior spinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday from an injury-hit squad.

29 September,2011 06:17 pm

He has been dropped from the squad for the first two one-day internationals of its home series against England next month.Indias cricket board said that Harbhajan, who missed a recent one-day series in England because of a stomach injury sustained during a preceding test series, will make way for rookie Punjab leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.Harbhajan, who has bagged 259 wickets in 229 one-dayers, has been unimpressive in recent international games and only took two wickets in two test matches in England.The 31-year-old bowler declared himself fit for the upcoming series and has been leading Mumbai Indians in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.Sachin Tendulkar (toe), Virender Sehwag (shoulder), Yuvraj Singh (finger) and Zaheer Khan (ankle) were not considered for the squad after picking up injuries during the tour of England in which India failed to win a single game.India, playing its first home one-day series since winning the World Cup on home soil in April, is left with only five players from that victorious squad captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, opener Gautam Gambhir, middle-order batsmen Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.Gambhir, who suffered concussion after a fall while fielding on the tour of England, is the only one to return after the spate of recent injuries to Indian players.Batsman Rohit Sharma has an injured finger, while pace bowlers Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel have yet to recover from ankle injuries.Selectors continued to ignore experienced seamer Ashish Nehra and went with uncapped left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind.We finalized the squad after having discussed everything, chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth told reporters. It is a good chance for youngsters and we feel we have a balanced side.Srikkanth blamed the injuries for the disastrous England tour where India was beaten 4-0 in tests, lost a five-game one-day series 3-0 and also went down in the solitary Twenty20 game.We had a pretty young side in England and we did well, Srikkanth said. We didnt win any match but that had more to do with injuries and rain. This is our home series and in home conditions we should do well.The five-match ODI series starts at Hyderabad on Oct. 14. The tour ends with a Twenty20 game in Kolkata on Oct. 29.India ODI squad: Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Sreenath Aravind, Rahul Sharma.