India confirm Kohli as captain

Virat Kohli was expectedly anointed India's captain across all formats on Friday as selectors recalled the ageing duo of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina for this month's limited-overs matches against England.

Test captain Kohli was placed in charge of the one-day international and Twenty20 teams following MS Dhoni's decision to step down as limited-overs skipper on Wednesday.

Dhoni, 35, was included as the wicketkeeper-batsman for the three ODI and three T20 games against England.

Dhoni, who has not played any cricket since October when he led India to a 3-2 ODI win over New Zealand, will prepare for the internationals by taking part in a warm-up match in Mumbai on January 11.

Yuvraj, 35, who was the man of the tournament during India's World Cup triumph in 2011 before being diagnoised with a rare cancer between the lungs, has not played an ODI for three years.

But the left-handed allrounder won back his place in both the ODI and T20 squads with a string of good performances in first-class cricket, including scores of 260 and 177 for his state side Punjab.

"It is tough to keep a special player like Yuvraj out when he has shown such good form," Prasad said. "He has been very impressive this season."

As Yuvraj celebrates his comeback a few weeks after his marriage to actress Hazel Keech, long-time team-mate Raina, 30, finds himself back in the T20 squad after being ignored for the tours of Zimbabwe and the West Indies last year.

The selectors have also kept the faith in 37-year-old Ashish Nehra for the T20 games, also including hard-hitting teenager Rishabh Pant for the shortest format.

Regulars Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Shami were not considered due to injuries.

Left-handed Pant, who played in the under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh last year, is a wicketkeeper-batsman in the Dhoni mould and has been in sizzling form in domestic cricket with 972 runs at an average of 81.

Pant grabbed the headlines with a incredible 308 off 326 balls for Delhi against Maharashtra in the first-class Ranji Trophy in Mumbai in October, an innings that contained nine sixes and 42 boundaries.

As many as 10 players from the two squads have been included in India 'A' teams that will face the Englishmen in 50-overs-a-side practice matches in Mumbai ahead of the internationals.

Dhoni will lead the side in the first game on January 10 that also includes Shikhar Dhawan, Mandeep Singh, Yuvraj, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Nehra.

On January 12, Ajinkya Rahane will captain the India 'A' team that features Pant and Raina.

The three ODIs will be played in Pune (Jan 15), Cuttack (Jan 19) and Kolkata (Jan 22). The T20 internationals will be hosted by Kanpur (Jan 26), Nagpur (Jan 29) and Bangalore (February 1).

India's ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav

India's T20I squad: Virat Kohli (c), Lokesh Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra