NEW DELHI— Veterans Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra returned Saturday to India's Twenty20 squad for next month's limited-over tour of Australia, which has five One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 games.
The 34-year-old Yuvraj, who last played international cricket at the World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh in 2014, was selected after some fine performances in domestic one-day games this month.
Yuvraj, best remembered for his six sixes in an over against Stuart Broad during the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in 2007, was picked as India looks for a finisher batting at No. 6 or No. 7 for the next World Twenty20 in India, starting in March.
Nehra, 36, last played for India in the 2011 World Cup but has been fairly consistent over the years in the Indian Premier League.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is another experienced player in the T20 squad along with left-handed batsman Suresh Raina, who failed to make the ODI selection after a poor recent home series against South Africa in which he managed only 68 runs in five games.
India was boosted by the return of pace bowler Mohammad Shami for both the T20 and ODI squads with experienced pace bowler Ishant Sharma also in the ODI squad. Shami had been out with a knee injury since the World Cup, in which he was India's most successful bowler with 17 wickets in seven games.
Left-handed all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja returned to both limited overs squads after shining in the four-game home Test series against South Africa, which India won 3-0. Jadeja took 16 wickets in five innings with his spin bowling and also chipped in with some useful scores with the bat.
The selectors decided to go with experience for the 20-over format but opted for a number of youngsters in the ODI side with time on their side as the next World Cup is in 2019.
Rookie Brainder Sran, a left-arm seam bowler, was called up for the ODIs with all-rounders Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Rishi Dhawan the other uncapped players in that squad.
Big-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the lone uncapped player in the T20 squad.
Batsman Ambati Rayudu, all-rounder Stuart Binny and legspinner Amit Mishra failed to make the cut in both teams.
The one-dayers will be played at Perth (Jan. 12), Brisbane (Jan. 15), Melbourne (Jan. 17), Canberra (Jan. 20) and Sydney (Jan. 23).
The T20 games will be in Adelaide (Jan. 26), Melbourne (Jan. 29) and Sydney (Jan. 31).
India ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rishi Dhawan and Brainder Sran.
India Twenty20 squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra. — AP
