India rest trio for Windies ODIs

Paceman Zaheer Khan, who played in the ICC World Twenty20, is recovering from a shoulder injury to his bowling arm

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India’s selectors have opted to rest Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Suresh Raina for the four-match one-day international series against West Indies, starting later this month.

The trio have all been suffering injuries with Tendulkar having already indicated he was likely to miss the series due to a finger injury.

Left-arm paceman Zaheer was overlooked due to a shoulder injury to his bowling arm while Raina, who struggled for form in both the Indian Premier League and India’s unsuccessful ICC World Twenty20 defence, was also omitted due to a hairline fracture in his thumb.

In their place there is a long-awaited recall for Ashish Nehra, uncapped all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and top-order batsman Murali Vijay in a 16-man squad.

Nehra, who last played an ODI match in September 2005, makes a comeback on the back of a strong showing in the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils.

Explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag, who was eventually dropped from the World Twenty20 team just before the start of the tournament in England due to a shoulder injury, was not considered for selection.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were also picked to the team.

The first ODI will be played in Jamaica on June 26.

India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik.