Unchanged squad for Sharjah; Laxman to lead Rest of India

Unchanged squad for Sharjah; Laxman to lead Rest of India
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, October 9: The National cricket selectors on Monday expectedly retained the 14-member Indian team, which is now in Nairobi, for the October 20-29 triangular series in Sharjah.

The five-member selection committee, including newcomer Sanjay Jagdale, also named Hyderabad's VVS Laxman as the skipper of the Rest of India team in the Irani Cup match against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai to be played here from October 13-17.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jaywant Lele, after announcing the two teams, said that there was a request for including an off-spinner in the Sharjah squad from the team management which is taking part in the ICC Knock-out Cup tournament.

``The selectors held discussions over the request before deciding to retain the 14 for Sharjah'', Lele told reporters.

According to reports from Nairobi a source in the team management had indicated that Karnataka's Vijay Bharadwaj would get the nod for the off-spinner's spot.

But the bespectacled Karnataka all-rounder did not even get a look-in in the Rest of India team against Mumbai in the Irani Cup.

Queried on Bharadwaj's exclusion selection committee chairman Chandu Borde said, ``He has not played much last season because of injuries. We did not get much opportunity to watch him in action''.

The reason for the Indian team management's request for an off-spinner was because of the number of left handers in the Sri Lankan and Zimbabwe squads who are the other two teams in the fray in the Sharjah triseries.

But the selectors obviously did not want to make any changes in the Nairobi squad which has exceeded all expectations by laying low World Cup champions Australia while marching into the semi-finals.

About the inclusion of ace speedster Srinath in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup, Borde said the Karnataka bowler was ``Definitely not on trial''.

``We thought that a five-day match like the Irani Cup tie would help Srinath to get into his groove after his lengthy absence from cricket. It would be beneficial for him'', the selection committee chairman said.Srinath had opted out of the tours to Kenya and Sharjah.

The selectors' decision to include Punjab's Sarandeep Singh instead of his more experienced teammate Harbhajan Singh for the off-spinner's slot in the RoI squad gives an indication that the latter has not risen upto their expectations in the number of chances he got last season.

The decision to include Railways left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, who too has played in a couple of Tests before losing his place, is another clear-cut indication that the BCCI has forgiven the Delhi-based player for his `indiscipline' at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) last season.``We also discussed Karnataka's Dodda Ganesh and Tamil Nadu's Sadagopan Mahesh for the medium-pacer's slot. They will get their chances during the three-day tour matches against Zimbabwe (in November)'', Borde said.Borde expressed some concern at the dearth of young, quality leg spinners in the country. ``That's causing some concern.''

India: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Sridharan Sriram, Rahul Dravid (vc.), Vinod Kambli, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Singh, Vijay Dahiya (wk), Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan, Sunil Joshi and Hemang Badani.

Rest of India: VVS Laxman (capt.,Hyderabad), S Ramesh (TN), Shiv Sunder Das (Orissa), Mohd Kaif (UP), Jacob Martin (Baroda), Abhijit Kale (Maharashtra), Virender Sehwag (Delhi), Ajay Ratra (wk, Haryana), Murali Karthik (Railways), Javagal Srinath (Karnataka), Ashish Nehra (Delhi), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (Bengal), Sarandeep Singh (Punjab) and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (Punjab).