Indian captain banned for final Test due to slow overrate

Sehwag to lead in Adelaide as world champions name limited-over squad

Perth (AP & AFP) India’s woes have been compounded after the innings and 37run loss to Australia yesterday when Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first Test skipper to be banned under tough new guidelines on over rates.

Opener Virender Sehwag, who has struggled with the bat in this series, will deputise for Dhoni in the last Test at Adelaide. Wriddhiman Saha is likely to take over as wicketkeeper.

Apart from the one-test ban, Dhoni was fined 40 per cent of his match fee. The rest of the Indian team was Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel. fined 20 per cent of their match fee for falling two overs short in the Australian first innings.

Ranjan Madugalle, chief ICC match referee, imposed the sanctions after the charges against India were laid by the two match umpires, Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena.

“The offense is contrary to Article 2.5.1 of the Code which relates to over-rate offences. Dhoni pleaded guilty to the charge and the subsequent penalties were accepted both by Dhoni and India,” the ICC said.

Meanwhile, the world champions yesterday named a 17-man squad for the two Twenty20 matches and the tri-series involving Australia and Sri Lanka.