RAJKOT (India), Jan 12: Indian selectors recalled former skipper Saurav Ganguly to the one-day squad on Friday but axed attacking batsman Virender Sehwag due to poor form.

The 34-year-old batsman Ganguly was named in the 15-man squad chosen for the first two matches of the home series against the West Indies starting on Jan 21.

Ganguly was also among the 30 probables announced for the March-April World Cup in the West Indies.

One of only five batsmen to score more than 10,000 one-day runs, Ganguly was sacked as India skipper and one-day player in Oct 2005 due to a batting slump. He made a strong return during the just-ended Test series in South Africa, however, where he emerged as the highest scorer among Indian batsmen, although India lost the test series 2-1. Ganguly struck 122 in a domestic Ranji Trophy game earlier on Friday to maintain his touch.

Sehwag has struggled for runs in the past few months and was even pushed down the batting order during the Tests in South Africa in a failed bid to help him rediscover form.

Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar praised Ganguly's determined comeback, but also made it clear that performance and fitness would be closely watched.

He said batsman Yuvraj Singh, nearing full fitness after he tore knee ligaments late last year, would have to prove himself in a few domestic games before he was considered for selection.

“Sehwag has been out of form for a while,” Vengsarkar said. “He is a fine player, but he should go back to the nets and sort out his batting.”

However, the 28-year-old Delhi batsman was among the World Cup probables, two days after scoring a hundred in the domestic Ranji Trophy competition.

Young seamer Irfan Pathan and middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif were also dropped for the West Indies games after failing in South Africa, although both were among the World Cup probables.

India play four one-dayers each against the West Indies and Sri Lanka in succession in the final build-up for the World Cup starting on March 13.

World Cup probables: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Santhakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Suresh Raina, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Vikram Singh, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Saurav Ganguly, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Vangipurappu Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ishant Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rajesh Pawar.