Sachin, Zaheer, Raina and Sehwag rested for WI tour

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan were rested while Ashish Nehra staged a comeback after four years as national selectors on Wednesday announced a 16-member squad for the ODI series against the West Indies, beginning June 26.

Suresh Raina was also not considered because of a thumb injury while Irfan Pathan was left out of the squad announced by BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan.

Apart from Delhi pacer Nehra, Tamil Nadu batsmen Murali Vijay and S Badrinath were also included in the squad for the four-match series for which the Indian team will directly fly from London today.

Mumbai all rounder Abhishek Nayar was the lone new face in the squad which will be captain by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and will have Yuvraj Singh as his deputy.

Virender Sehwag, who pulled out of the Twenty20 World Cup because of a shoulder injury, was not considered for selection.

Srinivasan said that Raina was not considered for selection as he had sustained a hairline fracture on his thumb. He has been advised two weeks' rest.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, S Badrinath, RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Kartik.