Sehwag, Harbhajan recalled for Twenty20 World Cup

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India have recalled bowlers Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan and aggressive batsman Virender Sehwag for next month's Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captain of the 15-player squad in the absence of regular skipper Rahul Dravid, who opted out of the inaugural event along with veteran batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly.

Off-spinner Harbhajan and left-arm seamer Pathan, overlooked for the current test and one-day series in England, were recalled after useful stints with English county Surrey and India A respectively.

"He is already vice-captain of the one-day team. So it is no surprise that he has made captain for the Twenty20 championship," Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah said of Dhoni.

The Twenty20 event will give Sehwag, 28, a chance to re-establish himself after he was dropped for loss of form.

"He was never written off," Shah said. "He is a big hitter and will be useful in Twenty20."

Paceman Munaf Patel was included in the 15-player one-day squad to play a seven-match series in England from Aug. 21 after missing the tests due to back trouble.

Twenty20 squad:

Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh.