India rest Tendulkar, recall Yuvraj for tri-series

CRICKET: NEW DELHI, July 31 (AFP) - India's cricket selectors on Saturday rested batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar and recalled Yuvraj Singh for next month's triangular one-day series in Sri Lanka.

New Zealand are the third team in the tournament, starting in Dambulla on August 10. Each side will play four league matches before the top two make it to the final on August 28.

Yuvraj, with 7,345 runs in 250 one-day internationals, was dropped from India's squad for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka last month. He played his last match in a tri-series in Dhaka early this year.

India also rested off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and opening batsman Gautam Gambhir.

"Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh have been rested," Indian cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement. Tendulkar has not played for India since becoming the first batsman to hit a double-century in one-day internationals, against South Africa at Gwalior in February.

He is the world's leading run-getter in both Tests (13,742) and one-day internationals (17,598).

India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Saurabh Tiwary.

Schedule:

Aug 10: India v New Zealand

Aug 13: Sri Lanka v New Zealand

Aug 16: Sri Lanka v India

Aug 19: Sri Lanka v New Zealand

Aug 22: Sri Lanka v India

Aug 25: India v New Zealand

Aug 28: Final.