Publications
Partners
New Delhi - India's cricket selectors on Friday named promising right-arm seamer Vinay Kumar in a 15-man squad for next month's World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean.
Kumar, 26, a regular first-class cricketer for Karnataka since 2004, impressed for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the ongoing T20 Indian Premier League.
The selectors also found a place for 21-year-old leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who has played two Tests and 21 one-dayers, but has yet to appear in a T20 international.
Chawla, who last represented India in 2008, will join off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and left-armer Ravindra Jadeja in a three-man spin attack for the April 30-May 16 tournament.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the squad and aggressive opener Virender Sehwag will be his deputy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.
Record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar was not picked due to his reluctance to play T20 internationals despite being in prime form in recent Test and one-day matches.
Tendulkar, who turns 37 next month, hit the first-ever double-century in one-day cricket in February.
The selectors gambled by including opening batsman Gautam Gambhir and left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra even though the Delhi duo has missed recent IPL matches because of injuries.
India won the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, but failed to reach the semi-finals in the second edition in England last year which Pakistan won.
Dhoni's men are drawn alongside South Africa and surprise qualifiers Afghanistan in one of the four preliminary league groups.
Two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eights round.
India squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Vinay Kumar.
