From the base camp to acid test

From the base camp to acid test
Express News Service

Chennai, February 11: The focus shifts from the sylvan IIT campus, where the first phase of the conditioning camp for the Indian cricket probables concluded, to the MA Chidambaram Stadium here, the venue for the day-night Hero-Honda-NKP Salve Challenger Series one-day tournament. In the opener, India Seniors led by Saurav Ganguly meet India A captained by Rahul Dravid.

With leading lights in the country taking part, a keen competition is on the cards. Thus it will be an acid test for those who aspire to make it the national side. The tournament will serve as a warm-up for the players before the Australian series.Ganguly, who is eager to perform to his potential, is keen to watch others since he should have the best for the ensuing series against Australia. ‘‘It will be an opportunity for probables who have attended the camp as well as others who could not make it to prove their mettle and impress the selectors.’’

National selection panel chief Chandu Borde and coach John Wright said though importance was attached to the probables, the team management would also take the performance of the others into consideration to finalise the National team for the series against the Aussies.

As for the tournament, the top two teams emerging from the round robin league will contest the final on February 15.

Guide to Challenger Series

India Seniors
Saurav Ganguly (capt), Shiv Sundar Das, Yuvraj Singh, Hemang Badani, V V S Laxman, Virendra Sehwag, Vijay Dahiya (wk), Aashish Kapoor, Debasish Mohanty, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Sunil Joshi.

India A: Rahul Dravid (capt), S Ramesh, S Sriram, Jacob Martin, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia (wk), Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Iqbal Siddique, Rahul Sanghvi, W D Balaji Rao.

India B: Robin Singh (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, J P Yadav, Md. Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Amay Khurasia, Sukhvinder Singh, Nikhil Chopra, Rakesh Patel, Surinder Singh, Dodda Ganesh, Vikram Rathour.