NEW DELHI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captain of India's squad announced Monday to defend the Twenty20 World Cup title in England next month.

The squad contains several veterans of the World Cup winning team of 2007 in South Africa.

Several new players, including allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and left arm-spinner Pragyan Ojha, join the 15 man squad on the strength of their performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League in South Africa.

Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were not included despite their good form in the IPL. Tendulkar has said he is not interested in playing Twenty20 cricket for India.

Host England opens the Twenty20 World Cup at Lord's against the Netherlands on June 5. The final is on June 21.

India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan.