Allrounder Yusuf Pathan has been recalled to the ODI squad for the first two matches against South Africa, along with fast bowler Praveen Kumar. R Ashwin, the Tamil Nadu offspinner, has also been called up, as has Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar, to the 15-man squad.
Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir is out of the series because of a groin injury, while middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh had not recovered from the hand injury he sustained in Bangladesh to take part in the three-ODI contest. Offspinner Harbhajan Singh was not included because he asked for time off to attend his sister's wedding.
Yusuf had made a strong case for himself with his eye-catching performances on the domestic circuit. His two centuries for West Zone - 210 off 190 balls in the second innings - helped them achieve the highest chase in first-class cricket in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone.
"It's a great feeling to be called up," Yusuf told Cricinfo. "In the back of my mind it was there after I scored those two hundreds in the Duleep [Trophy] final. If I get a chance to play, I think I'm in really good form. I'm happy to be in such good form."
He strengthened his chances by smashing a century off 40 balls - the third fastest century in List A matches - for Baroda in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Maharashtra in Ahmedabad. That performance came on the day the selectors met in Kolkata, where the second Test is currently underway, to pick the 15-man squad.
The series begins in Jaipur on February 21.
Squad: MS Dhoni (capt\wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra.
Yusuf Pathan recalled for ODIs against South Africa | Cricket News | India v South Africa 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com
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R Ashwin ahead of Ojha .Interesting.
Haven't seen much of him,would be interesting to see how he goes.Another Tamilnadu player in the Indian team under CHIKA.
Don't know why Jadeja is in the team,though. for mine i would have Manish Pandey ahead of him.It's time to blood him.
On the other hand Abhishek Nayar and Yusuf Pathan are good selections in the team.Nayar if he succeeds in the international level gives India a medium pace bowling allrounder and will move the Indian ODI unit a notch up.