AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Indian selectors have dropped experienced batsman Rahul Dravid for the first two one-day internationals against Pakistan next month. Dravid, 34, averages less than 10 in his last 10 one-day matches and was dropped for the final one-dayer against Australia earlier this month.
"We wanted to give him a break for a while," chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar told a news conference on Saturday.
"He is a great player. He will be back very soon."
Pakistan will play five one-day internationals and three tests in India from Nov. 5.
Explosive opener Virender Sehwag, dropped for the England tour due to poor form, regained his place.
"He's back in form," Vengsarkar said of Sehwag, who was part of the team that won the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
Dravid, one of seven batsmen in the world to score over 10,000 one-day runs, gave up the captaincy last month after the England tour.
He looked out of sorts in the one-day series against Australia, scoring just 51 in five completed innings. The visitors won the seven-match series 4-2 after the opening game was washed out.
"If they need him, he'll be there for the next few games," Vengsarkar said of Dravid, dropped from the one-day team for only the second time in his career.
"Fitness and fielding are very important. We have given him a break."
Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rohit Sharma, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar.
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