Ganguly back in ODI team: Video

 The prolonged form slump finally caught up with Virender Sehwag who was sacked from the Indian one-day team today for the first two cricket one-dayers against West Indies while Sourav Ganguly expectedly staged a comeback along with in-form all-rounder Joginder Sharma.

Wielding the axe on non-performers, the national selectors also dropped Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia from the 15-member squad announced by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah here.

The omission of Sehwag was on the cards given his poor form in recent times as the selectors effected as many as six changes in the one-day squad that toured South Africa recently.

Sehwag, was, however included in a provisional 30-member squad for the World Cup, which also named today, and included a host of youngsters like Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, Delhi paceman Ishant Sharma, and Mumbai's Rohit Sharma and Rajesh Sharma.

Seasoned leg spinner Anil Kumble was "rested" for the first two one-dayers to be played in Nagpur (January 21) and Cuttack (January 24), but the selectors made it clear that he would be considered for the remaining matches.

Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Sehwag needed to sort out his batting in the nets before turning out for an international game. "He has been out-of-form for a while. He needs to go back and sort out his batting. He is a fine player. I am sure that he will come back but I would like to say that he should go back to the nets and sort out his batting," Vengsarkar said.

The team for the first two ODIs: Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar (v-c), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarakar, M S Dhoni, R P Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh.

'I will need time to settle down'

Staging a comeback to the one-day squad for the series against West Indies, Sourav Ganguly today said he would need some time to settle down since he was returning to the shorter format after a long gap.

"I need time to settle down. I am back after 13-14 months. My record for India in the last 11 years (in ODIs) has been good and I hope to carry on from that," the stylish left-hander told reporters at the Eden Gardens here.

Ganguly termed his comeback, which comes on the heels of his return to Test cricket, as an opportunity to put runs on the board and play one-day cricket again.

"I will have to do well and score runs," said the 34-year-old former captain who played his last ODI against Zimbabwe in September, 2005.

Ganguly, who was also included in a provisional 30-member World Cup squad, declined to comment on his prospects of making it to the final squad for the quadrennial extravaganza.

"Let's first finish this series. Then there's another series (against Sri Lanka). There are still eight games to go before the World Cup. We should take one series at a time." Ganguly said it was important to win the two series to be able to go into the World Cup with a positive frame of mind.