Kartik replaces Powar for 4th and 5th ODIs

HYDERABAD: National selectors on Friday recalled left-arm spinner Murali Kartik to strengthen the struggling Indian bowling against Australia while keeping rest of the 15-member squad unchanged for the fourth and fifth cricket one-dayers.

The selectors, who met here, decided to include the 31-year-old Kartik in place of burly spinner Ramesh Powar after the Railways bowler had an outstanding county stint early this year.

Kartik was out of the Indian team for 19 months as he last played for the country against Pakistan in February 2006.

He had lost his place in the team due to shoulder injury after which he went to play for the Middlesex English county and emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the last season.

The next two ODIs of the seven-match series will be played on October 8 in Chandigarh and October 11 in Baroda.

The team for Twenty20 match to be played between India and Australia at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai would be the same which won the World Cup in South Africa.

However, Piyush Chawla, who is nursing an injury, has not been included in the squad, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said.

ODI Team: MS Dhoni (Captain), Yuvraj Singh (Vice Captain), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Kartik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uttappa, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth Harbhajan Singh.