Sehwag to lead India, Karthik included as Dhoni gets two-match ban for slow-over rate

New Delhi: Delhi Daredevil’s star opener, Virender Sehwag will lead the Indian team as Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has been banned for two matches because of his team’s slow over rate in the second one-dayer at Nagpur. The third and fourth ODIs will be played at Cuttack and Kolkata.

Delhi Daredevil’s vice-captain Dinesh Karthik has been included in the squad in place of Dhoni for the third and fourth ODIs against Sri Lanka.

Also coming in is Ishant Sharma for S Sreesanth who was laid low by swine flu.
Yuvraj Singh, who missed the first two ODIs, because of a finger injury and illness, has been retained in the team.

The Squad: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha.

Falling short by up to two overs in an ODI, and five in a Test day, is considered a "minor offence", and merits a ban only if the offence is repeated twice in 12 months. At Nagpur, India finished their 50 overs about 45 minutes after the scheduled finish. Match referee Jeff Crowe decided to impose a ban. If India repeat a serious over-rate offence in any form of the game within the next 12 months, Dhoni could earn himself a ban of two to eight ODIs or one to four Tests.