Chennai: Rewarded for his recent good form, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was yesterday recalled in the Indian team for the first three One-day Internationals of a seven-match series and a one-off Twenty20 against the touring Australia.
The selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-man squad for the series here yesterday, making four changes in the squad that won the Champions Trophy in June.
Yuvraj, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat have been picked in place of Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav.
Other seniors like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh will have to wait for their return to the national fold.
Yuvraj comes to the side after scoring heavily in the series against West Indies A and Challenger Trophy.
Yuvraj’s last ODI was against England in Dharamsala in January 2013.
He was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and did not feature in the Zimbabwe series either, when India had rested several first-choice players.
However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket.
He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limited-overs series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66.
He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.
A fit Yuvraj is seen as a bigger asset than Karthik. Karthik had a decent run in England and in Zimbabwe, but he failed to reach 50 in the tri-series in the West Indies.
In effect, Karthik has lost out to Rayudu, who scored 101 runs off 163 balls at an average of 50.5 against Zimbabwe
Fast bowlers Shami and Unadkat have been rewarded for their impressive show in the five-match series in Zimbabwe.
The axe for speedster Yadav is surprising though he proved expensive in the Challenger Trophy.
Wicket-keeper Karthik was overlooked against Rayudu, who averaged more than 50 runs in Zimbabwe. Opener Vijay could not retain his place while Irfan Pathan is injured.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin replaces Parvez Rasool, who misses out after the Zimbabwe stint alongside Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohit Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane.
India will play a T20 and seven ODIs against Australia but selectors decided to pick the squad only for the initial three games.
The T20 will be played in Rajkot, October 10.
The first three ODIs will be hosted in Pune (October 13), Jaipur (October 16), and Mohali (October 19). AGENCIES
