NEW DELHI: India left out opener Virender Sehwag, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pace bowler Zaheer Khan on Saturday from their provisional squad of 30 players for the Champions Trophy in June.

The 34-year-old Sehwag, who has scored 8,273 runs in 251 ODIs with 15 centuries since his debut in 1999, was dropped for the ODI home series against England in January and the last two games of a subsequent four-Test home series against Australia due to recent poor form.

Sehwag’s 219 against the West Indies in December 2011 is the highest individual score in One-day Internationals and he is only the second batsman to score a double-century in the shorter format after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar.

Harbhajan, 32, last played an ODI two years ago in the West Indies, while Zaheer, 34, missed the entire Australian series due to a calf injury.

Uncapped off-spinner Parvez Rasool, 24, was included in the squad, making him the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to join the senior ranks.

Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s new Test batting star, was overlooked despite showing he can score quickly in Test and domestic cricket.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and batsman Suresh Raina are in the squad and look certain to be picked in the final 15, which will be announced one month before the tournament.

Experienced batsman Gautam Gambhir will compete with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan for the openers’ slots.

Unmukt Chand, India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning captain from last year is another top order batsman in the squad.

India are drawn with South Africa, Pakistan and the West Indies in Group ‘B’ of the Champions Trophy, from which the top two will qualify for the semi-finals.

The other group comprises England, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Preliminary squad: Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Unmukt Chand, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Jalaj Saxena, Parvez Rasool, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Shami Ahmed, Irfan Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Ishwar Pandey, Sidharth Kaul.—Agencies