Harbhajan Singh dropped for England ODI series

NEW DELHI: Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra could not make it to the Indian team, which was announced on Thursday for the first two ODIs against England starting October 14.

Pune Warriors leg-spinner Rahul Sharma and off-spinner R Ashwin were included in the squad for two ODIs.

The team for the remaining three ODI's will be announced later gauging the fitness of the senior injured players.

The selectors went for rookie pacers, as the bowling unit was of more concern with three premier speedsters in Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel out of contention.

Sreenath Aravind made the cut for the first time while Varun Aaron, who did not play a single match on the recent England tour, was retained for the first two ODIs.

Gautam Gambhir, who suffered an injury during the Test series against England, made a come back to strengthen the Indian batting.

The first two games of the five-match ODI series against England will be played in Hyderabad on October 14 and New Delhi on October 17. The other matches will be held in Mohali (Oct 20), Mumbai (Oct 23) and Kolkata (Oct 25).

As expected Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh were unable to make into the squad due to injuries.

Virender Sehwag, who had hearing problems as well as recuperating from shoulder surgery was also left out.

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