Dravid makes one-day comeback

NEW DELHI: Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid on Sunday made a return to India's one-day squad for next month's tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Dravid, 36, last played a one-day international in 2007 but his form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa and the poor show of India's younger batsmen in the World Twenty20 turned the scale in his favour.

With 10,585 runs from 333 games to hs name, Dravid is expected to bolster the middle-order which struggled against rising deliveries in England, hosts of the World Twenty20 in June.

Dravid replaced Rohit Sharma, who managed 15 runs in three innings during India's last one-day engagement, against the West Indies, in June-July.

Aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was ignored by the selectors as he is yet to recover fully from a shoulder injury.

Suresh Raina, out of action owing to a hairline fracture of the thumb, made a comeback while Amit Mishra replaced Pragyan Ojha as the back-up spinner to Harbhajan Singh.

Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar, who asked to be rested from the West Indies tour, also returned to the squad.

The tri-series in Sri Lanka, which has New Zealand as the third team, is set to begin on September 8 while the eight-nation Champions Trophy will be held from September 24 to October 5.

India's one-day squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar.