The Indian selectors on Friday announced a 15-member squad, led by Rahul Dravid, for the first two matches of the one-day international series against Sri Lanka, starting on October 25.
Sourav Ganguly, who was sacked as the captain on Thursday, was not included in the squad. The Bengal left-hander has been ruled out of competitive cricket till October 18 because of an injury, diagnosed as "mild tennis elbow symptom".
V V S Laxman, who had a fine run in the recently-concluded Challenger Series, was also overlooked, with chairman of selectors Kiran More stressing that the focus was on youngsters.
Kerala fast bowler Sree Saanth was rewarded for his impressive performance in the domestic circuit, while Zaheer Khan was omitted.
The squad will also see the long-awaited international return of Sachin Tendulkar, who was out of action since April.
Mohammad Kaif, who was injured while fielding in the Challenger Series final, has been ruled out of action for the next two weeks.
"Anil Kumble is undergoing rehabilitation and his fitness would be reviewed on October 18. He too has been ruled out of the first two games.
"Ashish Nehra will also not be fit in time for the first two games," BCCI secretary S K Nair said in Mohali, on Friday.
More said the committee is looking at giving enough opportunities to youngsters to prove their worth at the top level.
"People like Rao and Raina should be given enough opportunities before the 2007 World Cup. We are looking at the future. Our record in the last 30-40 ODIs has not been good, hence we have to look at new players," he said.
He also added that Dravid has done well for India and deserves a long run as captain of the team.
Squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Venugopal Rao, Suresh Raina, M S Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, J P Yadav, Sree Santh, R P Singh, Gautam Gambhir.
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