Yuvraj Singh Dropped, Manish Pandey Returns To Team India For ODIs And T20I Against Sri Lanka

Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shardul Thakur have been included in India's ODI and T20I squads in place of the rested R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, but the big news is that Yuvraj Singh has been dropped for Manish Pandey. Yuvraj has lost his place having tallied 109 runs in his last six ODI innings.

Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah also expectedly return for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka starting August 20, having been rested for the recent tour of the West Indies, as does KL Rahul who missed the Champions Trophy in June on account of injury. The 25-year-old batsman has not featured in an ODI since January, but on return to the Test side has produced scores of 57 and 85.

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Yuvraj, 35, began India's campaign at the Champions Trophy in June with a match-winning 53 off 32 balls against Pakistan but his form trailed off thereafter, with scores of 7, 23* and 22. He played in three of five ODIs in the West Indies, managing 57 runs in 75 balls with a highest of 39.

Pandey's recall has come on the back of a strong one-day triangular series for India A in South Africa, which the side won: scores of 55, 41*, 86*, 93* and 32* to be named Player of the Series. The 27-year-old was last in the Indian setup in January for the home ODI and T20I series with England. He played two of the T20Is, scoring 3 and 30, but last featured in an ODI in October 2016. Named in India's Champions Trophy squad, Pandey returned to India because of an injury that flared up.

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With Rohit back - and named vice-captain - it is likely that Ajinkya Rahane, Man of the Series in India's ODI series win in the West Indies, will slot back into the middle order where he last batted during the tour of Australia in January 2016. However, he will vie for a spot with Pandey, Rahul and Kedar Jadhav. In the West Indies, playing his first internationals since 2014, Karthik scored 2 and 50* in two ODIs and top-scored with 48 off 29 deliveries in the one-off T20I.

Left-arm spinner Axar returns to the Indian team for the first time since October 2016, when he played the last of his 30 ODIs. Axar, 23, is already in Sri Lanka with the Test team, as replacement for the suspended Jadeja. From that India A squad, the legspinner Chahal has also won a recall. In four matches, he claimed four wickets and a fine economy rate of 4.37. The uncapped Mumbai pace bowler Thakur was the leading wicket-taker for India A in South Africa with nine from four matches, conceding runs at just 4.34 per over.

From India's previous ODI assignment, the tour of the West Indies in June-July, the other players to be dropped are the 19-year-old Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. Karthik had replaced Pandey in India's Champions Trophy squad and then for the trip to the West Indies, where he scored 2, 50* and 48.

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Ashwin, Jadeja and Shami and Umesh Yadav have been rested keeping an eye on home series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka followed by India's tour of South Africa in the new year. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav's eight wickets in his first ODI series - in the West Indies, which India won 3-1 - left quite an impression on Kohli, and at 22 he finds himself leading the team's spin attack. With Shami rested, the pace-bowling quotient comprises Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Thakur.

The ODIs will be played on August 20, 24, 27, 31 and September 3, and the T20I on September 6. This is the first time that Kohli will lead India in a limited-overs contest in the country.

India last played ODIs in Sri Lanka in 2012, when MS Dhoni's team won a five-match series 4-1. Dating back to 2005, India have only lost one ODI series in Sri Lanka, a tri-series held in 2010; they won series in 2008 and 2009 (twice) and then five years ago.

Squad: Virat Kohl (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (v/c), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,