Tendulkar rested for Bangladesh tri-series, Ishant dropped

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar was rested while pacers Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were on Friday dropped from India's 16-member squad for next month's Tri-series in Bangladesh. (Watch Video)Temperamental speedster S Sreesanth, who missed the ODI series against Sri Lanka because of swine flu, and Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda were included in the ODI squad for the Tri-series announced by the BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan after a selection committee meeting in the capital.Ishant, who has been in poor form in recent times, was notonly axed from the Tri-series squad but was also not included in the team forthe fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Left-armspinner Pragyan Ojha was also left out of the Tri-series squad with the nationalselectors preferring leg-spinner Amit Mishra to share the spin bowlingresponsibilities with Harbhajan Singh. Dashing left-hander YuvrajSingh, who only played one match in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, has beennamed in the Tri-series squad which has no new face. "SachinTendulkar desired to be rested for the Tri-series at Bangladesh. He will playthe Tests against Bangladesh," Srinivasan said in a BCCI press release issuedFriday night.Virender Sehwag, who led India when Mahendra SinghDhoni was unavailable following the two-match suspension for slow over-rate, hasbeen named vice-captain of the Tri-series squad.Rohit Sharma, whofigured in India's Twenty20 squad, has also been recalled for the Tri-series inDhaka from January 4-13.Apart from India, hosts Bangladesh and SriLanka are the two other teams. The Tri-series will be followed by atwo-match Test series in Chittagong (January 17-21) and Dhaka (January 24-28).The team to be captained by Dhoni has six specialist batsmen, twospecialist spinners and five pacers. It has one all-rounder in Ravindra Jadejawho has been quite effective as left-arm spinner and two wicketkeepers incaptain Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik. In the absence of Tendulkar,Gautam Gambhir is likely to open the innings with his Delhi teammate Sehwagwhile it will be interesting to see who bats at the crucial number threeposition. Zaheer Khan will spearhead the pace attack which also hasAshish Nehra and Sreesanth besides the two rookies Sudip Tyagi and AshokDinda. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar,Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja,Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Dinesh Karthik, SSreesanth, Ashok Dinda, PragyanOjha. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag(Vice-Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma,Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh,Sudeep Tyagi, Dinesh Karthik, S Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Amit Mishra.