Big three pull out hits event hard

With the forthcoming tour by South Africa round the corner there are quite a few spots up for grabs in the National squad especially in the wake of the dismal show by the National team Down Under.

India discards — notably former captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who is to lead India A in the absence of Ganguly, seasoned stumper Nayan Mongia and Vinod Kambli — would be eagerly looking forward to come up with performances which cannot be easily ignored by the selectors.

The event is also important for Ajay Jadeja, left out of the Australian tour following a shoulder injury, to show that he has recovered fully from his fitness problem. He will lead India B, the third team in the fray.

The tournament should also serve as the ideal tune-up for leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who had a very disappointing tour of Australia, for the coming series against the Proteas in which he is expected to play a key role in familiar environs.

The India A and B teams have a sprinkling of members of the Under-19 World Cup winning team for whom this is the first big chance to showcase their talent at the National level.

Azhar and Mongia would be keen to prove a point or two while turning out for India A against the Rahul Dravid-led India Seniors for whom Sameer Dighe would keep wickets.

The name of left-hander Kambli will definitely be coming up in the minds of the selectors if he comes up with consistent good scores here following his run of five successive centuries in the Duleep and Deodhar Trophy tournaments.

It will also be important for Australia-returned batsman Jacob Martin who is expected to be in the running for middle-order spots with the likes of Azhar, Kambli and junior India captain Mohd Kaif when the selectors meet in Mumbai on February 20 to choose the team for the first Test against South Africa.

With the selectors in dire search of a consistent pair of opening batsmen, spotlight would be trained on Karnataka’s J Arun Kumar, Bengal’s Nikhil Haldipur and Orissa’s Shiv Sunder Das, besides Hyderabad’s Venkata Sai Laxman who did precious little in Australia barring his blazing knock of 167 in the third and final Test at Sydney.

Another interesting one-to-one contest will be waged by Karnataka’s Sunil Joshi, in India Seniors team, and Railways’ left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, who is in India A.

Whoever bowls better in this tournament would have a headstart for being considered for the Tests against South Africa despite the fact that this is a limited overs event.

With the need to groom young pace bowlers, the efforts of Thiru Kumaran, Dodda Ganesh, Amit Bhandari, Harvinder Singh Sodhi and Reetinder Singh Sodhi would be keenly watched in the company of the established Venkatesh Prasad and Debashis Mohanty.

There are other players too who can get into the one-day reckoning against South Africa with good displays here.

Topping the list are all-rounders Sanjay Bangar (Railways), Virender Sehwag (Delhi) both of whom are to turn out for India A under veteran skipper Azhar. Tamil Nadu’s elegant left-hander Sridharan Sharath is another player who has grabbed attention, after being on the National scene for more than five years now, with some fighting centuries in the last two Deodhar Trophy ties for South Zone.

The selectors are to choose the Board President’s XI team to take on the visiting South Africans at Mumbai from February 19-21 during the course of the tournament.

The teams

India Seniors: Rahul Dravid (C), VVS Laxman, Shiv Sunder Das, Jacob Martin, Robin Singh, Anil Kumble, Nikhil Chopra, Sunil Joshi, Sameer Dighe (WK), Harvinder Singh Sodhi, Venkatesh Prasad and Vinod Kambli.

India A: Mohd Azharuddin (C), Nayan Mongia (WK), J Arun Kumar, Ashu Dani, Sridharan Sharath, Virender Sehwag, Murali Karthik, Amit Bhandari, Sanjay Bangar, Thiru Kumaran, Ashish Kapoor and Neeraj Patel.

India B: Ajay Jadeja (C), Nikhil Haldipur, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Jai Prakash Yadav, Devendra Bundela, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Ajay Ratra (WK), Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Debashish Mohanty, Anup Dave and Dodda Ganesh.

Hours of play: 1530 hrs to 1900 hours; 1945 hrs to 2315 hours.