Raina to lead India in WI ODI series

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Suresh Raina will lead India in the limited-overs series in West Indies next month after stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir was ruled out due to a shoulder injury, the Indian cricket board said on Friday.

Gambhir had been named captain after regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was rested for the lone Twenty20 and five one-day internationals starting on June 4. India will also play three test matches against West Indies.

Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested for the limited-overs series, will not get a chance to reach his 100th international century until India tour England later this year as he too opted out of the tests to spend time with his family.

Yuvraj Singh was also ruled out of the full tour of the Caribbean due to a lung infection, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.

"He (Yuvraj) is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung," BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said.

Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary will fill the void left by Gambhir and Yuvraj in the Twenty20 and one-day teams.

World champions India, also ranked number one in tests, will be without their regular openers during the tour as Virender Sehwag was also ruled out after undergoing shoulder surgery in England.

Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli are the only players in the squad who have not played a test match. Left-hander Mukund and Murali Vijay will probably be handed the opening duties during the three-test series.

Dhoni will return to captain the test side and left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan will lead the bowling attack.

"Sachin Tendulkar requested that he be allowed to spend time with his family. He will therefore not play the test series," Srinivasan said.

"However, he will be available for the full tour of England, that follows."

Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Vangipurappu Laxman, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.

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