Dhoni set to be named as Twenty20 skipper

MUMBAI: In the absence of Rahul Dravid, who has opted out, Ranchi-born Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to be named captain of the Indian squad for next month's Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa by the selectors here on Tuesday.

The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman, who turned 26 on July 7, is set to lead a team that is likely to include seniors Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, apart from Test and ODI discards Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Mohd Kaif.

With Dravid and two other ex-captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly skipping the September 11-28 tournament to give chances to youngsters, some new faces may get the nod apart from the experienced but out-of-favour trio Sehwag, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan.

The selectors have already short-listed the 30 probables and will prune it down to 15.

The ODI team for the seven-match ODI series against England is also to be chosen tomorrow and the selectors are likely to retain team that vanquished South Africa in the three-match off-shore ODI series in Ireland in June.

Question marks persist on Shantakumaran Sreesanth who breached the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Test against England which India won at Trent Bridge to go 1-0 up in the series.

The Kerala pacer was docked 50 per cent of his match fees for the breach by the ICC match referee for the India-England series, Ranjan Madugalle, and could see his place usurped by another right-arm bowler, Munaf Patel, if selectors choose to send out a strong signal.

Baroda pacer Patel has started bowling in competitive matches in a tournament held in Bangalore after recovering from his lower back injury sustained in Bangladesh in May.

Mumbai youngster Rohit Sharma also failed to shine in the limited number of chances he got in Ireland and could give way to someone like Kaif who is leading the India A squad now touring Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Kaif's UP mate Suresh Raina, who has declared himself fit from his knee injury, has still not played in competitive matches and fulfilled the BCCI criteria that players coming back from lay-offs have to prove their fitness in match conditions.

Another youngster Manoj Tiwari of Bengal is also recovering from his shoulder injury sustained in Bangladesh in May.

Both have found a place in the Twenty20 probables list, but are yet to prove their match fitness.

Irfan's elder brother Yousuf Pathan is a serious contender for the Twenty20 Cup with his ability to hit long and hard and bowl off breaks.

The selectors would be keeping track of the performance of players in the India A squad which they have chosen for inclusion in the squad for South Africa.

The ODI series against England commences on August 21 but prior to the rubber the squad is slated to play a one-off one-day tie against Scotland on August 16 at Glasgow at the conclusion of the ongoing Test series.

Selection panel chief Dilip Vengsarkar, who is in England, would have a telephonic conference with his co-selectors Sanjay Jagdale, Venkatapathy Raju, Bhupinder Singh Sr and Ranjib Biswal, when choosing the team.

Dravid, captain for the ODI series in England, is also expected to take part in the deliberations during the meeting to be convened by BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.

The Twenty20 squad would be chosen from: Robin Uthappa, V render Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Kaarthick, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Yousuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwari, Neeraj Patel, Karan Goel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Joginder Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Niranjan Behera, S Anirudha and Praveen Kumar.