India squad - Twenty20 & NatWest Series 2011

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain & wicketkeeper
Assured of immortality after leading India to World Cup glory on home soil earlier this year, Dhoni’s failure to prevent a 4-0 Test series whitewash by England will have little impact on his reputation. He remains a swashbuckling batsman whose often extravagant strokeplay overshadows his steady nerve.

Sachin Tendulkar
What to say, that has not been said already, about the best batsman of his generation and one of the finest to have graced the game? The NatWest Series is sure to be dominated by Tendulkar’s search for a 100th hundred, and perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to him is that even England fans would regard it as a privilege to witness it.

Ravindra Jadeja
The left-handed all-rounder was summoned as a late replacement after Gautam Gambhir was ruled out with a head injury. Still only 22, Jadeja has featured in 35 ODIs and is a useful lower middle-order batsman who also bowls orthodox spin. He missed out on a place in India's World Cup squad and will be keen to prove a point if called upon this summer.

Suresh Raina
A flamboyant left-handed member of India’s middle order, Raina has cemented his place in the one-day side. Of all India’s batsmen who featured in the Test series, he has the most to prove after enduring a torrid time against the short ball, which England will doubtless seek to employ again.

Rahul Dravid
By his own admission, Dravid was a shock inclusion in India’s limited-overs squad - for the first time in almost two years. Lauded for his heroic displays with the bat in the Test series, he enters the one-day leg of the tour as one of the few Indians boasting any sort of form. He will retire from the shorter form of the game at the end of the summer.

Virat Kohli
The 22-year-old is an emerging star of India’s one-day batting line-up, principally for his run-making but also his maturity. He demonstrated the latter in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup triumph by saying of Tendulkar: "He’s carried the burden of the nation for 21 years so it’s time we carried him on our shoulders."

Rohit Sharma
A batsman of immense potential, Rohit’s inconsistency saw him miss out on India’s World Cup squad. However, he made much of his inclusion in the one-day trip to the West Indies while several stars were rested with a couple of match-winning unbeaten half-centuries and another in a losing cause.

Ajinkya Rahane
The top-order batsman was uncapped at senior international level when he was called up in place of the injured Virender Sehwag. The 23-year-old was only the 11th player to score 1,000 runs in a season of India’s domestic first-class competition. That came a year after making 172 against an England Lions attack of Graham Onions, Steve Kirby, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar.

Parthiv Patel, wicketkeeper
Patel became Test cricket’s youngest wicketkeeper in August 2002 when he played versus England at Trent Bridge, aged 17 years and 153 days. He made his ODI debut five months later but struggled to keep his place in the side. Now Dhoni is captain, Patel’s opportunities have been even more limited but he fared reasonably well with bat and gloves when the skipper was rested in the Caribbean.

Amit Mishra
The leg-spinning all-rounder has been given limited opportunities in the one-day team since making his debut in 2003. In the last match of the npower Test series Mishra emphasised his batting credentials with 43 and 84, although he proved ineffective and expensive with the ball in the two Tests he played.

Ravichandran Ashwin
A tall off-spinner, who could fill in for the injured Harbhajan Singh. Ashwin made his India bow against Sri Lanka in Harare a little over a year ago and broke through in his first 10 ODIs, a run ended in the last match against the West Indies in June. He is also a handy batsman, averaging in the mid-20s at a strike rate of nearly a run a ball.

Praveen Kumar
Praveen is a canny medium-pacer who can swing the ball both ways. He was a regular in the one-day side in the years leading up to the World Cup but missed out on the competition with an elbow injury. He returned in the Caribbean and was India’s outstanding bowler in the npower Test series, although he missed the last match with a sore thumb.

Munaf Patel
Munaf came to prominence as a youngster of searing speed but injuries have limited him to a reliable medium-fast pace in his late 20s. He was an ever-present during the World Cup campaign, without being prolific with the ball, but was back to his best in the West Indies where he took eight wickets in three ODIs.

Vinay Kumar
A medium-pacer who has had to bide his time to be given a chance by India. Vinay made his international debut during the World Twenty20 last year and his ODI bow later that May, taking 2-51 against Zimbabwe. He was expensive and wicketless in his next ODI, against Australia, and took 1-46 in his sole match in the West Indies in June.

Varun Aaron
Aaron is a genuine pace prospect with a repeatable action although, at 21, he has already suffered back trouble. He was called up as an injury replacement for Ishant Sharma and could make his international debut having played just 11 games in each of the three formats. He boasts an impressive List A strike rate of 17.5 and has a decent economy.

Ravindra Jadeja was called up on the eve of the Twenty20 international as a replacement for Gautam Gambhir, who as ruled out of the limited-overs matches after suffering concusion.