"I think they wanted to give a chance to youngsters. I got a call from (captain) Rahul who said they were opting out of the tournament," chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said after India named a 30-man preliminary squad.

The trio are currently in England for the Test and one-day series. Each has scored more than 10,000 runs in one-day internationals.

The final 15-man squad will be announced next month.

Batsman Virender Sehwag and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh were named after being ignored for the England tour.

The selectors also announced a 16-man India 'A' squad for the tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya starting later this month.

Meanwhile, World Cup runners-up Sri Lanka on Saturday named a 30-man preliminary squad for the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September.

INDIA
Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Neeraj Patel, Karan Goel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Joginder Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Niranjan Behara, Aniruddh Srikkanth, Praveen Kumar.

SRI LANKA
Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Dilruwan Perera, Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Avishka Gunawardene, Mahela Udawatte, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Silva, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Ranga Dias, Dilhara Fernando, Ishara Amarasinghe, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Nuwan Zoysa, Akalanka Ganegama, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Muttiah Muralitharan, Hasantha Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Gayan Wijekoon, Upul Chandana, Dammika Prasad.