Praveen and Sachin returns for Oz tri-series

Praveen and Sachin returns for Oz tri-series

Praveen Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar will make a return to the ODI fold for the tri-series Down Under, Indian selectors have announced.

India named their squad for the series against Australia and Sri Lanka on Sunday and included Tendulkar, who has not played an ODI since the country's World Cup triumph last April.

There were no major surprises in the ODI squad despite the team's dismal performance in the ongoing Test series, which India is trailing 0-3.

Selectors have also continued to put faith in Irfan Pathan, who made a comeback in the last ODI India played against West Indies at home.

R Ashwin and Rahul Sharma are the two specialist spinners while all rounder Ravindra Jadeja can also chip in with his left-armers.

Yuvraj Singh, who is still recovering from a lung ailment and the injured Harbhajan Singh were not considered for selection. Varun Aaron and Munaf Patel were also not considered because of injuries.

Manoj Tiwary was also retained in the team as selectors continued to show faith in MS Dhoni's leadership skills.

The Indians are scheduled to play two Twenty20 matches on February 1 and 2, followed by the tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka, from February 5.

ODI and T20 squad: M S Dhoni (C), Virender Sehwag (VC), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Unesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan.