Yuvraj Singh was axed from the Indian team for the forthcoming Asia Cup tournament, to be played in Sri Lanka .
Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar , meanwhile, was rested after he requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India not to consider him for the tournament since he wants to spend time with his children, in view of the hectic cricket season ahead.
Interestingly, Tendulkar has not played a single ODI since his record-breaking 200 against South Africa in Gwalior in February.
Jharkhand's youngster Saurabh Tiwary , who had a successful outing for Mumbai Indians in IPL-3, was the surprise inclusion in the 15-man squad, announced by the national selectors on Monday. The left-hander was the second highest scorer for Mumbai with 419 runs in 16 matches inclusive of three half-centuries to help his team make it to the final, where they lost to Chennai Super Kings .
The 20-year-old was named the Under-23 success of the Twenty20 tournament and is currently touring England with the India A team.
The selectors finally lost patience with Yuvraj, who had a string of poor scores in the IPL followed by a disastrous showing in the ICC World Twenty20 last month. His off-field antics also did not go down too well with the selectors.
Yuvraj had a disastrous outing for Kings XI Punjab in IPL last month, where he managed just 255 runs in 14 matches, without a single half-century. He fared no better in the ICC World Twenty20, scoring 74 runs in five games, as India failed to make it even to the semi-finals.
He was also involved in an altercation with the fans in a pub in St Lucia along with a few other players and was served by a show cause notice by the BCCI to explain his actions.
Yusuf Pathan , Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik were the other exclusions from the squad that played in the tri-series in Zimbabwe.
Bengal pacer Ashok Dinda maintained his place in the side despite a mediocre performance in Zimbabwe, where he took three wickets in four matches at an average of 63.
Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja were the other players who were retained by the selectors.
Off-spinner R Ashwin was also preferred ahead of leggie Amit Mishra . The experienced Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni returned to bolster the batting after being rested from the previous tournament.
The bowling also got a formidable look with the inclusion of experienced pace trio Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra.
India sent a second-string side to Zimbabwe under the leadership of Raina, but the youngsters failed top live up to expectations and were knocked out in the group stages after twin losses to Zimbabwe and one to Sri Lanka.
The Asia Cup will be played in Sri Lanka from June 15-24 and will also feature Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Squad:
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain)
2. Virender Sehwag (vice-captain)
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Virat Kohli
5. Suresh Raina
6. Rohit Sharma
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Praveen Kumar
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Ashish Nehra
12. Pragyan Ojha
13. Ashok Dinda
14. R Ashwin
15. Saurabh Tiwary
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