Off-colour spinner Harbhajan Singh was today dropped as the selectors opted to infuse young blood by naming leg-spinner Rahul Sharma and paceman Sreenath Aravind in India's depleted 15-member squad for next month's first two cricket one-dayers against England. Gautam Gambhir, who missed the ODI series in England because of a head injury, returned to the team which will be without the services of as many as seven top players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh because of injuries. Handicapped by the injury-induced absence of the seniors, the national selectors chose a predominantly young bowling attack with Praveen Kumar being the spearhead. Vidharba paceman Umesh Yadav and Jharkhand speedster Varun Aaron also figured in the team announced by new BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a marathon meeting of the selection committee here.

The team, to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will have as many as five fast bowlers and three spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Sharma. Parthiv Patel, who did reasonably well in the recent ODI series against England, has been retained along with upcoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane of Mumbai.

Aravind, the 27-year-old Karnataka fast bowler, was rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic circuit and in the last edition of the Indian Premier League. Aravind has taken 68 wickets from 20 first class matches with an average of 27.11 in his career so far with five for 49 being his best effort. In Twenty20 cricket, he has taken 37 wickets in 28 matches at an average of 18.72.