India call-up for Sanju, Karn

Mumbai, Aug 5 (IANS) Keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup, India's cricket selectors have decided to invest in rookies like leg-spinner Karn Sharma and wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson by picking them in the 17-member ODI squad for the five-match series and a Twenty20 international in England starting Aug 25.

The senior selection committee of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) met here Tuesday and decided to drop Yuvraj Singh and ignore Gautam Gambhir for the ODI series in England.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said the selectors emphasised on youth for the World Cup, which will be held Down Under in February-March next year. 

"For the selectors the emphasis was on picking young players for the series. All the players, whom we have picked up in the ODI series ar young," said Patel.

The 19-year-old Samson, who is mentored by Rahul Dravid, was in outstanding form for India A in the quadrangular series in Australia scoring 244 runs in seven matches. In Ranji Trophy, he has scored 530 runs at an average of 58.88 and has been scoring heavily in the last two editions of the IPL. 

The 26-year-old Karn, who plays for Railways, has been a consistent performer for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who made the Champions League qualifiers. He has picked up 11 wickets in 13 IPL matches last season.

Patel also said that Amit Mishra, who is with the Test team in England, has been ruled out of the series with an injury. 

On Ishant Sharma's recovery, Patel said: "Ishant is also doing well in the recovery process and is likely to be available for the fifth Test." 

Ishant was dropped from the ODI side and the six pacers for the series would be Bhuveshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav and Dhawal Kulkarni.

Binny has impressed with his all-round abilities in the last ODI series in Bangladesh and was also impressive with his bat in the ongoing Test series in England.

The five ODIs will be played at Bristol (Aug 25), Cardiff (Aug 27), Nottingham (Aug 30), Birmingham (Sep 2) Leeds (Sep 5) and the only Twenty20 is slated for Sep 7 also at Birmingham.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sanju Samson, Karn Sharma.