Tendulkar, Ganguly rested for Bangladesh ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have been "rested" for India's upcoming one-day international series against Bangladesh, but the two stalwarts were named in the Test squad.

• Stats: ODI team records

Virender Sehwag was retained for the one-dayers despite his slump in form while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, and pacers Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar were dropped from both the ODI and Test squads, announced by Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Niranjan Shah in Mumbai on Friday evening.

Rahul Dravid was retained captain for the three-ODI and two-Test series, which starts May 10. The team leaves for the 23-day tour on May 7.

• Schedule: India in Bangladesh

Twenty-one year-old Bengal batsman Manoj Tewary is the lone new face in the 15-member ODI squad, while all-rounder Dinesh Mongia, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, off-spinner Ramesh Powar, opener Gautam Gambhir and pacer R P Singh were recalled to the team, announced by Shah, after the selection committee deliberated for nearly two-and-half hours.

Asked why Tendulkar and Ganguly were rested, Vengsarkar replied: "They have been given a break. I've spoken to both of them and they'll be considered for the next tours, no question about that.

"This is just for the tour of Bangladesh and here we could pick some youngsters."

Shah clarified that the selection committee's decision was not influenced by the Board.

"It was entirely up to the selection committee. If they felt Ganguly and Tendulkar needed to be rested, then it was up to them. Besides, this is the only tour where we can send other players."

Vengsarkar affirmed that Dinesh Kaarthik and Wasim Jaffer would be the team's specialist openers.

"Kaarthick scored 60-odd runs last time he played and both of them got good partnerships (in South Africa)," he said.

Talking about Harbhajan's omission, he said, "The off-spinner hasn't done well of late and that's why he has been omitted."

Vengsarkar said Mohammad Kaif's name came up for discussion but the selectors felt he had not scored enough runs to merit a comeback.

"We considered Kaif. But he has to get some runs in first class cricket to be back in the team."

He said Punjab all-rounder Dinesh Mongia was picked because "Bangladesh have a few left-arm spinners in their team".

The selected players of both squads will be put through their paces at a camp in Kolkata, from May 2 to 6.

Pankaj Singh (Rajasthan), Ranadeb Bose (Bengal), Ishant Sharma (Delhi), Pragyan Ojha (Hyderabad) and Yo Mahesh (Tamil Nadu) have been asked to report for the camp.

Teams:

One-Day International: Rahul Dravid (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthick, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, R P Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Mongia, Manoj Tewary.

Test: Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, M S Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthick, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, V R V Singh, Munaf Patel, Anil Kumble, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Powar.