India call up Nehra in place of Kumar

Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra will replace Praveen Kumar in India's squad for the first One-Day International against New Zealand on Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Thursday.

Kumar will miss the first of the five-match series due to fever, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

India named a second-string squad for the first two matches with opener Gautam Gambhir captaining the side after regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and four other frontline players were rested.

The five-match ODI series will kick-off in Guwahati on Sunday.

Indian team: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Saurabh Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (w/k), R Ashwin, R Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ashish Nehra/Praveen Kumar.