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January 12, 2007

Former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly due to his gutsy performances in the South African Test Series has earned a place in the Indian One Day Squad for the upcoming West Indies Series. Virender Sehwag has been dropped following his poor show at the top of the order in the recent games. The selectors have also picked up 30 World Cup probables along with the 15-man squad for the first two One Dayers against WI.

The chances of Ganguly making it to the World Cup has now been enhanced by his selection for the WI matches. He was India's top scorer in the three test matches in South Africa. The southpaw's last ODI was in 2005 in Zimbabwe in the finals of the Videocon triangular Series against New Zealand. Sachin Tendulkar will be Rahul Dravid's deputy for the upcoming West Indies Series . As expected, the Selectors have got the out of form Virender Sehwag out of the team.

Regarding Virender Sehwag's exclusion, Dilip Vengsarkar, the Chairman of the Selection Committee has stated that Sehwag has to get back to the nets and sort out his batting. This will be a temporary break for Sehwag most certainly as he is too good a player to miss out in the long term plans of Team India in any format of the game. Veteran leg spinner Anil Kumble misses out despite doing a good job in South Africa. It is believed that he has been rested. His place has gone to Mumbai off spinner Ramesh Powar. The Selectors have kept both Harbhajan and Ramesh Powar as they thinks they would be effective against the number of left handers that West Indies have.

Surprisingly the selectors have retained Dinesh Karthik in the squad as well, perhaps after being impressed with his batting and fielding! But it is doubtful whether he will play in the two ODIs. There is also a comeback for Haryana all rounder Joginder Sharma who had played for India on the Bangladesh tour. Also back is Rudra Pratap Singh with Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel getting dropped. Two opening batsmen in Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa have also made it to the side. VVS Laxman who was asked to play the fifth and final ODI against SA has been ignored yet again with the Selectors thinking that his fielding standards are not upto the mark.

Another omission is that of Mohammad Kaif's while his state mate Suresh Raina is lucky to still find a spot! Dinesh Mongia has been unlucky not to find a place but the selectors might be using the series against West Indies and Sri Lanka to rotate the players, so the likes of Kumble, Mongia could well be taking part in the Indian One Day team. Regarding Yuvraj Singh, the Chairman of Selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar has said that he will be considered for the Sri Lanka Series if he is fit.

The Series against West Indies begins on the 21st of this month.

Indian Squad for first two ODIs against West Indies : Rahul Dravid (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar (Vice-Captain), Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Wicket Keeper), Dinesh Karthik (Wicket Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh

India World Cup probables : Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Kaif, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Wicket Keeper), Dinesh Karthik (Wicket Keeper), Parthiv Patel (Wicket Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Vikram Singh, Ishant Sharma, Rajesh Pawar

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