Indian selectors appointed wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as one-day international (ODI) captain on Tuesday after Rahul Dravid abruptly quit the job last week.
”Dhoni has been appointed the captain for the upcoming one-day series against Pakistan and Australia,” board secretary Niranjan Shah told a news conference after a selection meeting.
The 26-year-old Dhoni, captain at the ongoing Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, will have a baptism of fire in the seven-match series against World Cup champions Australia starting on September 29.
”We thought he was the best man for the job,” chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar added.
The selectors also named the 15-man squad for the first three games.
Dhoni, who holds the record for the highest one-day score by a wicketkeeper (183 no), was thought to be in contention with former skipper Sachin Tendulkar, but media reports suggested Tendulkar did not want to lead in one-dayers.
Dhoni has caught the imagination of cricket-mad India for his explosive batting and trademark long hair and was Dravid’s deputy in the one-day series in England, which the hosts won 4-3.
ODI squad: Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Romesh Pawar, Piyush Chawla, Rudra Pratap Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh. — Reuters