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Ashwin new face in squad for SA ODIs

February 16, 2010

Prolific opener Gautam Gambhir has been left out because of a groin injury and Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin named in India's 15-member ODI squad for the first two One-day internationals against South Africa.

Apart from Gambhir, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was also not picked because of personal reasons, while Yuvraj Singh was ruled out because of his wrist injury.

Baroda all-rounder Yousuf Pathan and Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar were recalled to the squad, announced by Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary N Srinivasan after a meeting of the selection committee in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Pravin Kumar, who did not figure in India's tri-series in Bangladesh, was also included in the squad, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

There was no place for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the squad, which has Ashwin and Amit Mishra as the two specialist spinners.

"Harbhajan Singh has declared himself not available for the first two ODIs due to personal reasons. Gautam Gambhir is not available for the ODI series due to a groin injury," the BCCI said.

The first ODI will be played in Jaipur on February 21, while Gwalior will host the second match on February 24.

The three-match series ends in Ahmedabad on February 27.

Team: M S Dhoni (captain), 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 and Amit Mishra.

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