NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Mongia, Kambli left out of Asia Cup squad

Alexandra Fernandesand Anubha Charan in Pune

Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman Hemang Badani and Delhi speedster Amit Bhandari are the two new entrants in the fourteen-member Indian team for the four-nation Asia Cup tournament to be played in Dhaka from May 28.

The selection committee, which met at the Poona Club this morning, had an hour-long meeting with team skipper Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev, who has been retained as coach, and BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele before announcing the team.

Talking about the inclusion of the tall and lanky Badani, selection committee chairman Chandrakant Borde said everyone (the selectors as well as the coach) were impressed by his performance at the domestic level as well as in the training camp. "Not only is he a good batsman but an outstanding fielder too," Borde said.

He expressed a similar view about Bhandari. "He is basically in as a backup and has bowled brilliantly recently."

If the team was selected on the basis of performances on the domestic circuit, then two surprise exclusions were Vinod Kambli of Bombay and Nayan Mongia of Baroda. "Kambli no doubt is a good bat, but he is more Test-oriented, while Saba Karim was preferred to Mongia because of his batting," Borde said.

"Kambli was discussed at great length, but we felt that he was more suitable for Tests than ODIs. Right now our focus are the ODIs, and for that one needs to be very fast between the wickets and a top rate fielder. Further, Badani is also a top spinner, which would be very valuable to the team."

Borde, however, had some words of solace for the youngsters left out. "Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Mohammed Kaif were also discussed at length. But in the end the selectors preferred experience over rookies.

Asked about coach Kapil Dev's suggestion for a 25-day camp, Lele was initially lost, but shot back, "Nothing was officially said. It was his suggestion." The board would consider the suggestion in the next season when similar camps are organised, he said. "We will think about it in October."

Bhandari and T Kumaran go to Dhaka shouldering the responsibility of filling the huge vacuum created by the absence of both Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, which is by no means an easy task.

Lele also took the opportunity to clarify that contrary to earlier news, Srinath will not be retiring from ODIs, but is only taking a short breather.

When questioned about the absence of a third opener in the side, Borde explained that S Ramesh was considered but it was finally decided that since this was only an eight-day tournament, and since Dhaka was not too far away, it would not be difficult to send someone out later if the need did arise.

Speaking strongly on the issue of Kent’s letter to the BCCI requesting that Rahul Dravid be excused from the Asia Cup in order for him to complete his commitment to county cricket, Lele asserted that while the BCCI will not prevent players from playing county cricket, international commitments for the Indian team would have to take precedence.

Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, both of who are presently doing county duty in England, will fly to Dhaka directly on May 28. The rest of the cricketers left Pune this morning after the camp was cut short by two days to allow the team rest before the tour.

Lele also announced that the BCCI is planning a similar conditioning camp in October, before the commencement of the next cricketing season.

The team:

Sourav Ganguly (captain)
Rahul Dravid (vice-captain)
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammed Azharuddin
Ajay Jadeja
Robin Singh
Saba Karim (wicketkeeper)
Hemang Badani
Anil Kumble
Sunil Joshi
Nikhil Chopra
Ajit Agarkar
Thiru Kumaran
Amit Bhandari