Mumbai: As expected, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Tuesday named captain of the Indian squad for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa even as the selectors recalled Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh for the inaugural edition of the game’s new version.

[The Telegraph had reported on August 5 that Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh would be back for the ICC World Twenty20 meet and that Zaheer Khan could be rested.]

However, pacer Sreesanth, who has been far from impressive during the ongoing Test series against England, was dropped for the seven-match ODI series but included in the Twenty20 squad.

Munaf Patel will replace the Kerala seamer against England with the selectors retaining the same squad that had played against South Africa and Ireland in June-July.

The four selectors — Sanjay Jagdale, Bhupinder Singh Sr., Venkatapathi Raju and Ranjib Biswal — had a teleconference with chairman Dilip Vengsarkar in London before finalising both the squads.

With regular captain Rahul Dravid making himself unavailable for the event along with veterans Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, Dhoni was handed the mantle of leading the 15-member Twenty20 squad, announced by the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.

Zaheer Khan was also rested for the September 11-28 event where Irfan’s brother Yusuf Pathan will be the lone new face. Yuvraj Singh was named the vice-captain. Munaf, who was ignored for Test series and the preceding one-dayers against Ireland and South Africa, f was recalled in ODIs for the first time since his lower back injury sustained in Bangladesh in May.

With four seasoned players being rested, Sehwag’s inclusion was on the cards while Harbhajan Singh forced his way back with some impressive performances in English County Championship

Meanwhile, Baroda’s Yusuf Pathan and Uttar Pradesh’s Praveen Kumar were named the replacements for Rohit Sharma and Piyush Chawla in the India A team currently touring Kenya.

THE ITINERARY

Aug. 21: 1st ODI (day-night) at the Rose Bowl; Aug. 24: 2nd ODI (day-night) in Bristol; Aug. 27: 3rd ODI at Edgbaston; Aug. 30: 4th ODI (day-night) at Old Trafford; Sept. 2: 5th ODI at Headingley; Sept. 5: 6th ODI at The Oval; Sept. 8: 7th ODI at Lord’s. (AGENCIES)