Injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni out of Asia Cup

MS Dhoni out of Asia Cup with a side strain

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ruled out of Asia Cup 2014 as a result of a side strain. In Dhoni’s absence, India’s vice-captain and talismanic batsman Virat Kohli will lead the team; Dinesh Karthik has been called up to the national squad as the replacement for Dhoni.

Dhoni has been diagnosed with a grade-one strain to his left side. He sustained it while playing the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington and is expected to take 10 days to recover. The 2014 Asia Cup is set to take place in Bangladesh, starting from February 25. India will face the hosts in their opening match on February 26.

The Indian team has just come back from a gruelling tour of New Zealand, where they lost 0-4 in the ODI series and 0-1 in the Test series.

The 15 member Indian squad for the Asia Cup, which ends on March 8, is as follows:

Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Ishant Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Aaron, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Dinesh Karthik (WK).