India to play two warm-ups in Perth

India will kick off their limited overs tour of Australia with two warm-up matches against a Western Australian XI at the WACA Ground next month.

The WA XI will host MS Dhoni's men in a Twenty20 tour match from 6pm on Friday, January 8, before the two sides will do battle again in a 50-over tour match at same venue from 2.30pm on Saturday, January9.

India will meet Australia in a five-match VB One-Day International series and three KFC T20 International fixtures next month, beginning with an ODI at the WACA in Perth on January 12.

Yuvraj Singh has been recalled to the India squad, one of five inclusions, while MS Dhoni has been named captain in both formats.

Quick single: Yuvraj headed for Australia

Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishi Dhawan, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Brainder Sran have come in for Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny, Sreenath Aravind, the injured Mohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Indian Premier League star Raina was a surprise exclusion from the ODI squad for the Australia tour, while Shami is due to make his return from a knee injury.

And ahead of India hosting the World T20 in 2016, the BCCI have also included Yuvraj in the T20 squad that will head to Australia in the New Year.

Yuvraj has not played for India since the 2014 World T20 final in Bangladesh, which Sri Lanka won by six wickets.

Joining Yuvraj as inclusions in India’s T20 squad for the three matches, of which the first is scheduled at Adelaide Oval on Australia Day (January 26), are Hardik Pandya, Jadeja, Shami, Ashish Nehra and Umesh Yadav.

The players excluded from India’s T20 squad from the recent 2-0 series loss to South Africa are Rayudu, Axar Patel, Mishra, Binny, Aravind and Mohit Sharma.

India will be looking to improve on their performance in the Carlton Mid ODI series staged in January and February earlier in 2015, when they lost all three matches in the triangular tournament that Australia beat England in the final of ahead of the ICC World Cup.

The ODI and T20 matches will be crucial for both India and Australia as BCCI and Cricket Australia selectors look ahead to the World T20, where Aaron Finch will try to lead Australia to their first-ever win in the tournament.

Tickets for the warm-up games can be purchased from Ticketmaster.