Sehwag Dropped, Pujara, Mishra Called Up

Sehwag Dropped, Pujara, Mishra Called Up

Cheteshwar Pujara is poised to make his ODI debut against England

©REUTERS / Action Images

Virender Sehwag has been left out of India's squad for the first three One-Day Internationals against England and Cheteshwar Pujara has been called up.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra is also added to the squad that was beaten 2-1 by Pakistan in a recent three-match series.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a doubt for the final match of that series with a back injury, is named as captain and no back-up wicket-keeper has been included in the squad.

Dinesh Karthik had been drafted in as emergency cover in Delhi before Dhoni was passed fit to play.

Pujara has been in outstanding form for India in Test cricket - comfortably their best player against England late last year - but is yet to make his ODI debut. However, with 2,735 runs at an average of 56.97 in one-day cricket behind him, he appears to be perfectly suited to the shorter format.

Mishra, preferred to the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Rahul Sharma, has played 15 ODIs since making his debut in 2003 and his last ODI was in 2011.

Young pacers Shami Ahmed and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who impressed when bowling together in the final ODI against Pakistan in Delhi, retain their spots in the squad alongside Ashok Dinda and Ishant Sharma.

None of the players who featured in India A's impressive defeat of the touring England team are included - Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay both scored half-centuries and might think themselves a little unfortunate to be left on the sidelines once again although their efforts - and the axing of Sehwag - keep the pressure on Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir and the rest of the batsmen.

The series gets underway in Rajkot on 11th January.

India ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shami Ahmed, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Gautam Gambhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Amit Mishra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh

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