Dravid to lead, Ganguly provisionally selected

Rahul Dravid will lead the Indian team in the forthcoming triangular series in Sri Lanka, while Sourav Ganguly has been included in the squad as a provisional 16th member.

This means that Ganguly will play under Dravid if the suspension handed down by the ICC in April - which has four further games to run - is revoked. In the event of the suspension not being lifted, Ganguly will not travel to Sri Lanka, focussing instead on his county commitments with Glamorgan.

The selectors brought in two new faces, Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao, while Jai P Yadav's reward for some stellar performances in domestic cricket last season is the allrounder's slot.

Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman both found a place in the squad, while Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji were the medium pacers selected. The series starts on July 30 with India taking on Sri Lanka in Dambulla.

Squad Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopala Rao, Jai P Yadav, Mahendra Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra.