Dhoni to lead in ODIs; Pathan, Harbhajan recalled

Mahendra Singh Dhoni Tuesday replaced Rahul Dravid as captain for the One-day International home series against Australia and Pakistan, while Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh come back to the side.

Dhoni, 26, is currently leading India at the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. Dravid, who had opted out of the Twenty20, had made himself unavailable for the captaincy to concentrate on his batting after the recent tour of England.

Announcing a 15-member team for the first three ODIs against Australia at a press conference, cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah said here that Yuvraj Singh, who is senior to Dhoni, would be the vice-captain.

"We thought he was the best man for the job. He is a good (Twenty20) captain and it is the right time to groom him," said Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the selection committee.

Referring to speculation that Sachin Tendulkar had declined to lead the ODI team, he said that no one was offered the captaincy before Dhoni was finally picked.

Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel, who were part of the team that recently toured England, were dropped for the first three matches.

The three ODIs will be played at Bangalore (Sep 29) Kochi (Oct 2) and Hyderabad (Oct 5).

The team for the remaining four one-dayers will be announced later.

A hard-hitting batsman who can change his game according to the situation, the Ranchi-based Dhoni has played 84 ODIs since making his debut against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2004 and scored 2,477 runs at 44.23. In 20 Tests, he has scored 1,019 runs at 36.39.

Board president Sharad Pawar, who approved the team, endorsed the choice of Dhoni and the team as a whole.

"Anything that takes the team forward should be welcomed. We also have to see that the young generation is given opportunity and if the captain is also young that's good," he said.

The seven-match One-day International series against Australia will be played from Sep 29 to Oct 17.

The Pakistani team will visit India for five ODIs and three Test matches to be played between Nov 6 and Dec 12.

The captain for the Test series will be named later, said Vengsarkar.

On the recall of left-arm pacer Pathan and off-spinner Harbhajan, both of whom are playing Twenty20 World Championship, he said they have done well to merit a recall.

On Virender Sehwag, who is also playing in South Africa but was again ignored for the ODIs, Vengsarkar said that since the team was only for three matches, "he will get his opportunity" later in the series.

Team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wicket keeper), Yuvraj Singh (vice captain), Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh.

Australia in India
Date	Match	Venue
Tue, Sep 25	Australia team arrival
Sat, Sep 29	First ODI	Bangalore
Tue, Oct 2	Second ODI	Kochi
Fri, Oct 5	Third ODI	Hyderabad
Mon, Oct 8	Fourth ODI	Guwahati
Thu, Oct 11	Fifth ODI	Baroda
Sun, Oct 14	Sixth ODI	Nagpur
Wed, Oct 17	Seventh ODI	Mumbai

Pakistan in India
Date	Match	Venue
Fri, Nov 2	Pakistan team arrival
Tue, Nov 6	First ODI	Faridabad
Fri, Nov 9	Second ODI	Mohali
Mon, Nov 12	Third ODI	Kanpur
Thu, Nov 15	Fourth ODI	Gwalior
Sun, Nov 18	Fifth ODI	Jaipur
Thu, Nov 22 - Mon, Nov 26	First Test	Delhi
Fri, Nov 30 to Tue, Dec 4	Second Test	Kolkata
Sat, Dec 8 - Wed, Dec 12	Third Test	Bangalore