India elects to field in 2nd ODI vs SA; Ishant debuts, Dhoni back

Belfast, June 29 (UNI) Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma made his ODI debut after skipper Rahul Dravid elected to field first in the second match of the Future Cup even as Gautam Gambhir became the latest flu casualty while wicketkeeper-batsman M S Dhoni returned to the side.

The Indian thinktank have been forced to turn to players appearing in league cricket to reinforce the squad, with the likes of Baroda seamer Rakesh Patel and allrounder Arjun Yadav called up.

India, who lost the first match of the three-match series to South Africa by four wickets, will be without S Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar again.

But Ishant Sharma, the young pacer who played just one Test in Bangladesh, will be looking to have a better debut at the shorter version of the game.

South Africa have taken the opportunity to rotate their squad, with offspinner Thandi Tshabalala replacing promising allrounder Vernon Philander.

Teams: India: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (Capt), Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma.

South Africa: AB de Villiers, Morne van Wyk, Jacques Kallis (Capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Andrew Hall, Thandi Tshabalala, Andre Nel, Charl Langeveldt and Makhaya Ntini.

UNI