Mohit,Dhawal make the cut for ODI series

Mohit has started off well this season,taking seven wickets in the first two Ranji Trophy matches.

Haryana medium-pacer Mohit Sharma replaced out of form Ishant Sharma,while Dhawal Kulkarni earned his maiden national team call-up in place of R Vinay Kumar,as a 15-member India squad for the three ODIs against West Indies was named on Tuesday.

Ishant was retained with the team for the last four matches against Australia even after he had figures of 1/56 (7),0/70 (9) and 1/63 (8) in the first three. Finally his luck ran out. Ishant was persisted with because (Mohammed) Shami was still a relatively unknown quantity then. But now he has shown his mettle in both formats and has emerged as a very good strike option. Ishant was also retained because the selectors wanted him to work with the support staff, a source close to the selection committee said.

His replacement,Mohit,almost made the cut for last series but eventually missed out. However,with 20 wickets in 15 matches in the last IPL and also the figures of 2/26 and 1/25 in the two ODIs he played in Zimbabwe in August,the 25-year-old medium pacer from Haryana presented too strong a case to be ignored,once the selectors decided to drop Ishant.

Mohit has started off well this season,taking seven wickets in the first two Ranji Trophy matches,including four against a Mumbai side that included Sachin Tendulkar at Lalhi. Vinays omission was expected after he conceded 102 runs in his nine overs in the series decider against Australia in Bangalore.

Kulkarni,the Mumbai medium pacer,has been very consistent in domestic circuit for the last few years. The 24-year-old missed the Ranji Trophy match against Punjab due to a sore shoulder after taking three wickets in the first game against Haryana at Lahli. He,however,had 30 wickets in nine matches at 22.90 in the last Ranji Trophy season and also in the six matches he played in IPL-6,he bowled in the death overs.

Squad: MS Dhoni (captain),Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma,Virat Kohli,Yuvraj Singh,Suresh Raina,Ravindra Jadeja,R Ashwin,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Mohammed Shami,Ambati Rayudu,Amit Mishra,Jaydev Unadkat,Dhawal Kulkarni,Mohit Sharma