Vinay to replace injured Kulkarni

R Vinay Kumar replaced an injured Dhawal Kulkarni for India’s three-match One-Day International series against West Indies, which starts on Thursday (November) 21 in Kochi.

Kulkarni, who is uncapped at the international level, was among the new faces in the ODI squad, with Vinay dropped after poor returns in India’s 3-2 win over Australia. However, a foot injury to Kulkarni paved the way for Vinay to return to the side.

Vinay, currently leading Karnataka against Gujarat in a Group A Ranji Trophy match in Bangalore, conceded 345 runs in five matches at an economy rate of 7.93 against Australia. His returns of 1 for 102 in nine overs in the last match in Bangalore were the worst figures by an Indian bowler in limited-overs cricket. However, Vinay did pick up eight wickets in the series, finishing joint second on the list with Ravindra Jadeja, behind R Ashwin.

The second and third ODIs will be played in Visakhapatnam and Kanpur on November 24 and November 27 respectively.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Amit Mishra, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma, R Vinay Kumar.