Chennai: Yuvraj Singh made a comeback into the Indian squad while dashing batsmen Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were once again left out as 15-member Indian cricket team were annpunced for the first T20 international and three ODIs against Australia starting October 10 in Rajkot.
Other notable ommission from the squad were pacer Umesh Yadav and Dinesh Karthik, who failed to impress the selectors with their performance in the NKP Salve Challenger Series.
The selectors rewarded Yuvraj for his superlative perforamance with the bat against West Indies A and Challenger Series. Yuvraj scored 337 runs in five List A matches at an average of 67.40 with a highest score of 123 against the touring Caribbean side. He also scored a quickfire 52 against West Indies A in a T20 game in Bangalore. Being a useful bowlerin crunch situation, Yuvraj was preferred over Dinesh Karthik, who didn't do much since his comeback save a lone half century in the Champions Trophy.
Opener Murali Vijay, who too has failed with the bat was also dropped from the squad announced by the selection committee headed by Sandeep Patil.
Meanwhile, Bengal speedster Mohammed Shami, Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar and Saurashtra left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat were retained from the pace attack that played its last international series in Zimbabwe. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma made a comeback after well deserved rest.
Young Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Perveez Rasool made way for senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin while Amit Mishra held on to his place in the squad having taken 18 wickets in the last series against Zimbabwe.
Squad (1 T20 International and first 3 ODIs): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu.