Chennai: Suresh Raina will lead the Indian team in the limited overs series beginning June 4 with Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh being declared unavailable for the entire tour of the West Indies according to a statement released by the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI).
Raina will be supported by Harbhajan Singh who has been named the vice-captain while Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary have been included in the side to replace Gambhir and Yuvraj.
Gambhir had been assigned to lead India earlier but was left out due to a shoulder injury while Yuvraj has been dropped from the side because of a respiratory infection.
The team for the Tests beginning June 20 at Kingston was also named with MS Dhoni returning to his role as skipper while VVS Laxman has been named his deputy.
Although Zaheer Khan will join the team after the ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar will continue to be absent for the visitors as according to the release, he had asked time off to be with his family. Abhinav Mukund has been included in the side for the Test series.
The chairman of selectors – Krishnamachari Srikkanth – was confident of the team’s prospects and said the selection was made keeping in mind vital inputs from newly appointed coach Duncan Fletcher. “Issues of injury and unavailability happen but we have chosen a good side and I am confident that the team as a whole will do well in the West Indies,” he said.
Virender Sehwag had earlier been dropped from the entire tour due to another shoulder injury and India will now tour with six seniors missing from the one T20 and five ODI series.