MUMBAI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named skipper of the Indian cricket team for the ensuing one day series against Australia and Pakistan but the selectors held back their decision on Test captaincy. The 26-year-old Dhoni, who is currently leading the Indian team in the Twenty20 World Cup, succeeds Rahul Dravid, who recently sprang a surprise by relinquishing the captaincy to concentrate on his batting.

The announcement was made by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah at a press conference here, putting to rest intense speculation on the captaincy issue ever since Dravid stepped down last week. The selectors, however, did not name the captain for the Test team with chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar saying that a decision would be taken at a later stage. "Dhoni is a good captain and it is the right time to groom him," Vengsarkar said.

The selectors also chose a 15-member squad for the first three matches of the ODI series against Australia recalling paceman Irfan Pathan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh into the team. The squad, which will have Yuvraj Singh as vice captain, has no place for pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel, while Rohit Sharma has also been omitted. Indian team for first three ODIs against Australia: M S Dhoni (Capt), Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Kaarthick, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Romesh Pawar, Piyush Chawla, R P Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh.

Virender Sehwag, who is currently in the Twenty20 squad, was left out for the first three one dayers against Australia but Vengsarkar said, "He will get an opportunity because we need to rotate our players." On Munaf Patel's exclusion, Vengsarkar said, "Munaf stands a chance but he has to prove his fitness." Vengsarkar also felt that both Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan had done enough to merit a comeback. "Irfan and Harbhajan, both have done well off late in the Twenty20 World Cup and they deserve it.

Irfan is a fine all-rounder and we will see his performance in the first few one dayers." The chief selector also dismissed the notion that having three former captains would make it difficult for Dhoni to lead the side. "I don't think so. He would have three former captains in the ranks who would give him full support. You are talking about having three captains and Azharuddin had five former captains under him when he led India in England," Vengsarkar said.

He also denied that Sachin Tendulkar was sounded out to take over as the new Indian captain. "We did not offer captaincy to anyone, neither did we talk to him regarding Test captaincy," he said. Vengsarkar said he was not aware what prompted Dravid to suddenly quit his job. "I don't know why he quit. He did not tell me." Asked if it was his criticism which led to Dravid's resignation, Vengsarkar said, "I did not criticize Dravid, that's a wrong impression." Rather, Vengsarkar argued, it could be constant media pressure that forced Dravid to relinquish the job.

"It maybe due to media scrutiny. Maybe it was too much for him," he said. Asked if he had tried to persuade Dravid to stay on as India captain, Vengsarkar said, "No, I did not persuade, because I respect his decision."