New dream, another leaf turned!

Parvez Rasool on Friday became the first Kashmiri cricketer to be selected for India after he was named for a limited-overs series against Zimbabwe later this month. The 24-year-old off-spinner and a useful lower order batsman was picked in a new-look 15-man squad for five one-day internationals in Zimbabwe from July 24 to August 3.

Rasool, who hails from Bij Behara town in Indian Kashmir’s Anantnag district, rose to fame in February when he grabbed 7-45 against the touring Australians in a warm-up match in Chennai ahead of the Test series. Prolific batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were also recalled in the 15-man squad to be led by young Virat Kohli who is currently leading the team in the West Indies following a hamstring injury to Dhoni.

Saurashtra pacer Jaydev Unadkat and Haryana speedster Mohit Sharma, who made an impression in the ILP-6 for the Chennai Super Kings, were also named in the squad announced by BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel after a meeting of the selection committee here. Apart from Dhoni, pacemen Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and spinner Ravichandran Aswhin were also rested while Murali Vijay was dropped from the team.

The selectors also decided to ignore veterans like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and preferred to go with youngsters for the Zimbabwe tour to be held from July 24 to August 3. India will play five ODI matches during the series.