The BCCI’s senior national selection committee here on Sunday chose fast-medium bowler Ishant Sharma in place of Abhimanyu Mithun for the two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan to be played at Bangalore on December 25 and at Ahmedabad on December 28.
This is the only change from the squad that was picked for the two-match series against England which concluded here on Saturday. Ishant has been included in the ODI team. Virender Sehwag has not made himself available for the Twenty20 matches.
The selectors though --- and in keeping with their willingness to bring in new faces – have included Bengal medium pacer Shami Ahmed in the 15 member squad for the three one day internationals against Pakistan to be played at Chennai (Dec. 30), Kolkata (Jan.3) and New Delhi (Jan.6). The selectors have also recalled leg spinner Amit Mishra for the ODI series.
The team for two Twenty20 matches: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Parvinder Awana, Piyush Chawla, Ambati Rayudu
The team for three ODIs: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, , Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra.