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The Indian squad for two of the upcoming One-Day Internationals against England has been announced, and there are some notable absentees from the list as injury and lack of form have taken their toll.

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Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is the most glaring omission from the upcoming One-Day Internationals against England.

Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is the most glaring omission, as he is fit and currently captaining the Mumbai Indians in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, while others such as Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag have been ruled out because of injury.

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Fans will have to wait a little longer for Sachin Tendulkar to reach that elusive hundredth century as he remains sidelined with a toe injury that he aggravated on India’s unsuccessful tour of England. The Little Master will at least be able to rest in extra comfort after moving into his new “dream” home in Mumbai.
The absence of these stars, who all played key roles in India’s march to World Cup glory earlier this year, has opened the door for several younger players eager to make a mark as India looks to recover from the drubbing it took in England this summer.
The fresher faces include 23-year-old opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who made his debut on Sept. 3 in the first of the summer’s ODIs against England at Chester-le-Street, scoring 40 runs. Right-arm bowler Umesh Yadav, another 23-year-old, has been called up after playing just three ODIs for India, in which he has taken just one wicket.
An even fresher face is 21-year-old bowler Varun Aaron, who was called into the India ODI squad in England but has yet to play for his country at the highest level.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India rightly wants to make the most of this opportunity to blood youngsters in a team that will soon be going through transition as older players approach the end of their careers. But the BCCI still has the luxury of having some top-class players available at the core of the team, including of course captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as well as Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, both of whom are still young but are already stalwarts of Indian cricket.
Here’s the full squad for the first two ODIs:
M.S. Dhoni – captain and wicket-keeper
Gautam Gambhir
Parthiv Patel
Ajinkya Rahane
Virat Kohli
Suresh Raina
Ravindra Jadeja
R. Ashwin
Varun Aaron
Umesh Yadav
Vinay Kumar
S. Aravind
Rahul Sharma
Manoj Tiwary
Praveen Kumar
The BCCI didn’t say whether the squad would change later in the five-match ODI series, which runs from Oct. 14 to Oct. 25, probably because it wants to wait and see if leading players can return from injury.
England announced its touring squad earlier in the week. The visitors are also suffering from injuries to key players such as Stuart Broad and Eoin Morgan, but the selectors have called back Kevin Pietersen, who, like India, will be desperate to prove his doubters wrong.
You can follow Mr. Davies on Twitter @WillMHDavies. Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.

Via: India Real Time