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Gambhir to lead India in Dhoni’s absence

India has named Gautam Gambhir as the captain of a 16-member squad to play a one-off Twenty20 international and five one-dayers in the West Indies next month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India made the announcement through a media release on Friday.

Gambhir was named captain after selectors decided to rest World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batting star Sachin Tendulkar and experienced pace bowler Zaheer Khan in the midst of a hectic season. All three will be available for a test series that will follow the one-dayers.

Opener Virender Sehwag has been ruled out because of a shoulder injury.

Apart from the four senior players who will be missing the limited overs internationals, those from the World Cup squad not making the cut are leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and pace bowler Shantakumaran Sreesanth.

Batsmen Rohit Sharma and Subramaniam Badrinath have been recalled along with seam bowlers Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar.

Praveen Kumar was part of the original squad for the World Cup but was replaced with Sreesanth after injuring an elbow.

Parthiv Patel and Wriddhiman Saha are the two wicketkeepers in the team.

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India squad:

Gautam Gambhir (captain), Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha.