India's Dravid makes surprise ODI comeback

NEW DELHI, Aug 6, (AFP) - Rahul Dravid was Saturday recalled to the Indian squad for next month's one-day series against England, but the injured Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were left out. Middle-order batsman Dravid played his last one-dayer in September 2009, but got the selectors' nod following his impressive performances in the ongoing four-Test series in England.

The 38-year-old, who has scored 10,765 runs in 339 one-day internationals including 12 centuries, is the most successful Indian batsman on the tour with two hundreds in the opening two Tests.

India will play a one-off Twenty 20 match against England at Old Trafford on August 31 before the five-match one-day series starts at Chester-le-Street on September 3.

"We have selected the team on basis of the conditions in England. We have selected the team after a lot of deliberation and I am sure it is a very good side," chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth said.

"Yuvraj is one of our main players but unfortunately when you have a fracture in the finger, you cannot do anything about it." Off-spinner Harbhajan (abdominal strain) and all-rounder Yuvraj (finger injury) were not part of the limited-overs squad, to be led by World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The duo have already been ruled out of the remaining two Tests of the four-match series due to injuries, suffered during the second Test at Trent Bridge.

The Indian cricket board on Wednesday said in a statement that Yuvraj's injury could take around four weeks to mend, while Harbhajan was likely to recover in three weeks' time. They were replaced by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and middle-order batsman Virat Kohli. India currently trail 2-0 in the Test series.

Middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, paceman Vinay Kumar and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel, who are not part of the Test squad, returned for one-dayers.