Budding Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar were the two new names inducted in India’s 15-member squad for the five One Day Internationals and a Twenty20 against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Jadeja made a strong case for himself by virtue of his Ranji Trophy performances being the leading wicket-taker (42 wickets) along with Mumbai's Dhawal Kulkarni this season. The slow left-arm spinner also scored 739 runs at 67.18 to finish sixth on the top of the Ranji run-scorer's list.
The selectors, however, retained Pragyan Ojha as a specialist spinner after Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the series owing to a hamstring injury. Ojha played in the ODIs in Sri Lanka last year and was among the reserves in the England series.
Virat Kohli, who opened with Gautam Gambhir in all the five ODIs in Sri Lanka, got the boot as Virender Sehwag is back after his ankle injury that ruled him out of the one-day series last year.
Rudra Pratap Singh, who is not fully fit, is one of the other names missing from the squad that last toured the island nation.
{{/usCountry}}Rudra Pratap Singh, who is not fully fit, is one of the other names missing from the squad that last toured the island nation.
{{/usCountry}}Flamboyant Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma had his place secured with his glorious Ranji outing with the bat and Yusuf Pathan was another obvious choice after his solid all-round show in the truncated one-day series against England.