VALSAD, November 5: Coach Madan Lal would continue to be with the Indian cricket team if Sachin Tendulkar has his way. ``I do not see any reason why he should be replaced. He has been honest and sincere and that is what the team needs,'' opined the 24-year-old Indian skipper on the eve of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annual general body (AGM) meeting in Chennai.

Incidentally, both Tendulkar and Madan Lal overshot their one-year terms along with the National selection committee, thanks to the aborted BCCI AGM, two months ago.

Reiterating the necessity for the Indian team needing a physical trainer, Tendulkar also stressed upon the importance of having a foreign coach. ``That doesn't mean I am against the Indian coach,'' he clarified. ``I'm absolutely against the chucking of the Indian coach. He in turn can play the role of the manager. The priority is the Indian manager and then the foreign coach, who has different ideas, to oversee things.'' Though Tendulkar has provided enough food for thought concerning the betterment of Indian cricket it remains to be seen whether the BCCI bigwigs cater to it during the meeting on Thursday.

Saxena Debut: Medium-pacer Santosh Saxena (21), a surprise inclusion in the squad, is all set to make his first class debut when defending champions Mumbai take on Gujarat in their four-day West Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Sardar Patel stadium starting tomorrow.

Disclosing the team late in the evening, coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu revealed that Saxena would replace all-rounder Ajit Agarkar from the one-day squad that trounced Gujarat today.

The other changes will see Wasim Jaffer and wicket-keeper Sulakshan Kulkarni coming in place of Rajesh Sutar and Sameer Dighe respectively.

Tendulkar lauds Sutar: Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar lauded the exploits of Sutar, who shared the honours with his skipper in Mumbai's eight wicket victory. ``It was the first time I was playing with him and I enjoyed his batting,'' he said, adding ``he is exciting to watch.'' When queried whether did he see any chinks in Sutar's armoury, Tendulkar replied in the negative. ``He looked very comfortable to me. Though there were a couple of edges that went flying to the boundaries, I don't think that he should curb his strokeplay.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.