Kolkata Knight Riders left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the surprise inclusion in India's One-Day International squad for the first three matches of the forthcoming series against West Indies.
Experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was rested for the first three matches and 19-year-old Yadav, who is yet to play a 50-overs match at the senior level, got the nod.
Murali Vijay was included in place of the injured Rohit Sharma, while Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Dhawal Kulkarni and Karn Sharma were the other exclusions from the 17-member squad which won the ODI series 3-1 in England. He is expected to open the batting with Shikhar Dhawan.
Yadav, who is playing for KKR in the ongoing Champions League T20 for Kolkata Knight Riders, hails from Uttar Pradesh and represented India in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year. He has played eight only T20 matches at the senior level, taking 14 matches, including six wickets from four games in the ongoing CLT20 in which his team KKR will take on Chennai Super Kings in the final.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra made a comeback to the Indian ODI team in place of fellow leggie Karn for the first three games of the five-match ODI series. He impressed with his performance for India A in the practice One-Day game against West Indies in Mumbai on Friday when he claimed three for 26 to help the hosts register a convincing nine-wicket victory.
Pacer Umesh Yadav will consider himself lucky to retain his place in the ODI squad despite his poor showing recently. He has played just one match in the CLT20 for KKR, against Chennai when he was hit for 43 runs in four overs and was dropped thereafter. Even in the fifth ODI against England in September, he was smashed for 46 runs in six overs as he struggled to find his control.
The matches will be played at Kochi, Delhi and Vishakhapatnam on October 8, 11 and 14 respectively.
India squad for first three ODIs vs WI:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain)
Shikhar Dhawan
Ajinkya Rahane
Virat Kohli
Suresh Raina
Ambati Rayudu
Ravindra Jadeja
Amit Mishra
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Mohammed Shami
Mohit Sharma
Umesh Yadav
Murali Vijay
Kuldeep Yadav
