The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Ahmedabad

Indian selectors Saturday dropped former captain Rahul Dravid from the limited-overs team to play Pakistan. Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Dravid had been left out of the Indian team for the first two one-day internationals at home against Pakistan next month.

Dravid, who was India's captain until last month, has been struggling as a batsman. His lean form in recent one-day matches against Australia saw Dravid omitted for the last match of the limited-overs series that India lost 4-2.

Dravid resigned as captain last month after leading India for two years, expressing a desire to concentrate on his batting.

Vengsarkar said Dravid had been given a break and would soon return to the team.

"Dravid's form and fitness has made us give him a break, he's a great player and should be back soon," Vengsarkar told reporters after the selection panel's meeting.

The selectors also left out Dinesh Kartik from the 15-member squad, while recalling out-of-form opener Virender Sehwag and rookie all-rounder Praveen Kumar.

Left-handed batsman Gautam Gambhir reclaimed his place in the squad after recovering from the hamstring injury that made him miss four one-dayers against Australia.

The first two one-dayers of the five-match series will be played at Gauhati (Nov. 5) and Mohali (Nov. 8).

India squad: Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh and Shantakumarn Sreesanth.