Tendulkar back to bolster India for Sri Lanka series

MOHALI (India)—Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar returned to the India squad for this month’s home one-day series against Sri Lanka after recovering from an elbow injury.
Tendulkar, the world’s leading one-day batsman with 13,642 runs, was forced to skip triangular tournaments in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe this season because of the injury. He played his last one-day international in April against Pakistan at home.
India will be looking to their talisman to strike early form after he resumed competitive cricket this week, playing three matches in the domestic Challenger Series tournament here in northern India.
Fast bowler Sree Santh is the only newcomer in the 15-member squad announced Friday for the opening two matches.
Sri Lanka will play seven one-dayers, the first beginning at Nagpur on October 25.
The Indian team will be led by middle-order batsman and long-time vice-captain Rahul Dravid, who was appointed to take over from an unfit Sourav Ganguly on Thursday.
Chief selector Kiran More said that Ganguly, also suffering from a tennis elbow injury, would be reassessed on October 17 and could be considered for selection for the remaining matches of the series.
One-day specialist Mohammad Kaif was ruled out of the first two games due to a hamstring injury, sustained while fielding in the Challenger Series final here on Thursday.
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble, middle-order batsman Venkatsai Laxman, and pacemen Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan also failed to find a place in the squad.
Indian squad for first two One-Dayers: Rahul Dravid (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Venugopal Rao, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Jai Prakash Yadav, Sree Santh, Gautam Gambhir, Rudra Pratap Singh.—Agencies