Former ICL players named in IPL

A slew of former ICL players, as well as a few who turned in successful Ranji Trophy seasons, have found themselves picked in the final IPL squads for the third season starting next month. The squads can be tweaked at any time during the season with the inclusion, at 24 hours' notice, of any players on a franchise's books - which explains the exclusion of big names such as Shane Watson and Shane Bond.

Kings XI Punjab have signed up four domestic players - the medium-pacers Love Ablish and Shalabh Srivastava, batsman Manvinder Bisla and allrounder Reetinder Sodhi. Sodhi, who played 18 ODIs for India, and Srivastava, a left-arm pacer, were recently admitted back into the domestic fold after they severed ties with the unofficial ICL. Ablish, who plays for Punjab on the domestic circuit, was the third highest wicket-taker in this season's Ranji Super League. Bisla, the Haryana-born wicketkeeper who plays for Jammu & Kashmir, was part of IPL champions Deccan Chargers' squad in 2009.

Commenting on the selection, Punjab coach Tom Moody said: "They not only bring extra zeal to excel but also add fresh talent to the field with their exemplary ability with the ball and bat. Their zest to learn will ensure KXIP reaches newer heights and is ready to face any competition this season."

Kings XI Punjab: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Brett Lee, Adrian Barath, Vikramjeet Malik, Bipul Sharma, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Abdullah, Karan Goel, Ravi Bopara, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Shalabh Srivastava, Mohammad Kaif, Love Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, James Hopes, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Yash Gandhi, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla.

S Sriram, the batsman who played eight ODIs for India as well as in the ICL, has been named in Royal Challengers Bangalore's squad. The other more notable change in the Bangalore squad was the inclusion of Steven Smith, the Australia legspinner, in place of Jesse Ryder. Ryder, the New Zealand batsman, has been out of action since the ICC Champions League last September with a groin problem that has troubled him for nearly a year. Smith has made a name for himself in Twenty20 cricket having helped New South Wales win the inaugural Champions League title in India last October. He was also New South Wales' leading wicket-taker during the 2009-10 Big Bash tournament with seven wickets 10.28

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble (capt), Jacques Kallis, Shrivats Goswami, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Eoin Morgan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, S Sriram, Manish Pandey, R Vinay Kumar, KP Appanna, B Akhil, Steven Smith, Praveen Kumar, Mark Boucher, Dillon du Preez, Ross Taylor, Roelof van der Merwe.

Chennai Super Kings have signed up C Ganapathy, who was one of the Ranji Trophy's leading allrounders this season and who also took a five-wicket haul in the Duleep Trophy final, as well as former India batsman Hemang Badani. Badani was also one of the many domestic players who was released from the ICL last year.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Manpreet Gony, Shadab Jakati, Arun Karthik, Thissara Perera, L Balaji, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Makhaya Ntini, Thilan Thushara, C Ganapathy, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin, Justin Kemp, Hemang Badani, S Badrinath, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, Parthiv Patel.

Kolkata Knight Riders have not named New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, their big buy at the auction, but a spokesman said Bond will play for Kolkata once New Zealand finish their home limited-overs matches against Australia. Players who have been drafted in include the Saurashtra opener, Chirag Pathak, who hit a brisk century in the Duleep final. Also named in the Kolkata squad were Cheteshwar Pujara and Ganapathi Vignesh, the hard-hitting opener from Tamil Nadu. Vignesh was another to have returned to the domestic scene from the ICL.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Charl Langeveldt, Chirag Pathak, Iqbal Abdulla, G Vignesh, Brendon McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Chris Gayle, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Harshad Khadiwale, Varun Aaron, Eklak Ahmed, Owais Shah, Murali Kartik, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Laxmi Shukla, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma.

Deccan Chargers, the defending champions, also have four new domestic players in their ranks: Bodapati Sumanth, a middle-order batsman, allrounder Ashish Reddy, opener Monish Mishra who is a former ICL player, and 17-year-old Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Azhar Bilakhia, Andrew Symonds, Arjun Yadav, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, D Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Ashish Reddy, Herschelle Gibbs, Kemar Roach, VVS Laxman, Mohnish Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, T Suman, Venugopal Rao, Anirudh Singh, Rahul Sharma, Mitchell Marsh.

The former India offspinner Sarandeep Singh, who played three Tests and five ODIs, and the Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda have joined Delhi Daredevils.

Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (capt), AB de Villiers, Umesh Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Wayne Parnell, Shashi Ranjan, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Andrew McDonald, Farveez Maharoof, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Joginder Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, Moises Henriques, Sarandeep Singh, Sarabjit Ladda, Aavishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rajat Bhatia.

The three former ICL players in the Mumbai Indians squad are Ambati Rayudu, once ranked as India material, Syed Sahabuddin, and Ali Murtaza.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Chandan Madan, Syed Sahabuddin, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shikhar Dhawan, Graham Napier, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan, Ali Murtaza, Saurabh Tiwary, R Sathish, Aditya Tare, Ishan Malhotra, Rahul Shukla, Abhishek Nayar, JP Duminy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Ryan McLaren.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has been omitted from Rajasthan Royals' squad.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Damien Martyn, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abhishek Raut, Faiz Fazal, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Tait, Yusuf Pathan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha, Johan Botha, Michael Lumb, Shrikant Wagh, Sumit Narwal, Syed Quadri, Kamran Khan, Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, Siddharth Trivedi, Mahesh Rawat, Munaf Patel.