Ganguly brings in Karim, Das

However, Rahul Dravid was expected to recover from his broken finger in time for the match and was included.

India’s main strike bowler Javagal Srinath, who had remained on the sideline for months with a injury-riddled right shoulder, has been included the squad with a condition that he proves his fitness to the selectors in a Ranji match at Hyderabad from November 1.

The selectors sensing trouble in the CBI report about match-fixing did not touch the names of former captain Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja but Nayan Mongia missed the team as selectors decided to take the word of captain Saurav Ganguly and brought in an ageing Saba Karim as the wicket-keeper.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary JY lele informed the media here that the selectors had not seen in what shape Karim is after he nearly lost an eye in a match in Australia. He was operated in Chennai later but Ganguly informed that Karim, his Bengal teammate, was as good as ever after he decided to go for contact lenses.

Das, a player with no high standing as an opener and who must be the surprise packet, was also the beneficiary of captain’s choice. He will open with VVS Laxman while S Ramesh, who missed much of the game due to an injury during the South African tour here last season, will bat in middle order.The selectors, seething with the disgrace at Sharjah, swung the sword on Vinod Kambli and Hemang Badani but surprisingly called left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, who recently got the tag of `bad boy’ after he was dismissed from National Cricket Academy.

But he will be the second choice as Sunil Joshi makes his return to Test in abscence of Kumble.The squad: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid (vc) Saba Karim (wk) Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Shiv Sunder Das, S Ramesh, Yuvraj Singh, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Sunil Joshi, Venkatesh Prasad, Zahir Khan and Murali Karthik.