Youngsters make it to India's ODI squad

Two of the flourishing youngsters Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha make it to the 15-member India squad for the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and Asia Cup in Pakistan, while batsman Suresh Raina too returned to the team after some startling performances in the ongoing DLF Indian Premier League Twenty20 tourney.

Both Ojha (21) and Yousf Pathan (25) has not played a single one-day match for India but has been regarded as promising contestant on the front while playing for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals respectively.

Pathan, the elder brother of India paceman Irfan Pathan is a flourishing all-rounder as a hard hitting right handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. He was also a part of the Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Indian team in the last Twenty20 World Championship held in South Africa. India was the winner defeating Pakistan in the final.

Pragyan Ojha, who has already represented Indian at Under-19 level, is a talented left-arm spinner and also a handy batsman down the order. The Indian National Selectors after noticing his performance in IPL playing for Hyderabad marked him for the Indian One Day International team.

However, the 15-man Indian squad excludes star batsman Sachin Tendulkar due to a groin injury and paceman Zaheer Khan who has sustained ankle injury. The selectors however preferred young players Suresh Raina ahead of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid who has been kept out from the upcoming matches.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will also not be able to play in the upcoming matches after a five ODI matches ban after being found guilty of slapping S. Sreesanth in a domestic Twenty20 game by the Indian Cricket board.

Bangladesh tri-series scheduled for June 8-14 also features Pakistan. The Asia Cup, which involves the three nations mentioned also places Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, is scheduled from June 24-July 6.

India ODI squad: Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha.