Dhoni named captain for Twenty20 World Cup

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was today named captain of the Indian cricket team for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh, who had been out of favour for the ODI and Test teams, were included in the 15-member Twenty20 squad announced by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah.

In addition to regular captain Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly who had earlier opted out of the September 11-28 tournament, fast bowler Zaheer Khan was also rested.

Paceman Sreesanth was dropped from the ODI team for the seven-match series against England, which was also picked by the selectors who met here today.

Munaf Patel, who was ignored for Test series and the preceding one-dayers against Ireland and South Africa, was recalled to replace Sreesanth.

The 15-member squad for Twenty20 World Cup: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Kaarthick, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh and Rohit Sharma.

The 15-member squad for 7 ODIs against England: Rahul Dravid (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Kaarthick, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar.