Toronto, Sept 15: The Indian squad will have to wait till the weekend for the four-man reinforcements to reach here. But the welcome news on the eve of the third of the five-match Sahara Cup tournament against Pakistan was the return of their first match hero Saurav Ganguly.Despite denial by the Indian board secretary Jaywant Lele earlier in the day, it was confirmed in the evening that Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble and Robin Singh, part of the team that got knocked out of the inaugural cricket tournament of the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, would be joining the Indian squad in time for the last two matches.Meanwhile, doubts about Ganguly were cleared by the player himself saying, ``I will play on Wednesday.''Troubled by a right hamstring pull, which forced him to withdraw twice from the middle and seek medical treatment in the dressing room on Saturday during the opening game of the series, Ganguly sat out of the Sunday game as a precautionary measure.Ganguly has a history ofcramps developing but it has less to do with his physical fitness and more to the excessive sweat which his body generates. He never starts an innings till he has had a salt tablet and he needs them regularly to stop being dehydrated, by way of excessive sweating.He has been replenishing himself with liquid for the past 48 hours and the fact that there was no practice yesterday meant a bigger rest for him.Man-of-the-match for the fifth time at this venue, albeit a year apart between the two Sahara Cups, Ganguly underplayed his individual achievement and said more importantly, ``India could make a winning start.''Saqlain Mushtaq too returns. The off-spinner finds himself freed from his County duties with Surrey and is in Toronto, possibly a sure fixture in all the remaining games.Pakistan would be further encouraged to include him since the Indian spinners had a good purchase from the wicket on Sunday. It should be more tomorrow since the third game is scheduled at the first pitch, used onSaturday, and where the bounce and pace was inconsistent.Faced with a depleted batting line-up, Mohammed Azharuddin has no option but to play rookie batsman Jatin Paranjpe in the final XI. Sairaj Bahutule, Jyoti Yadav and Sanjay Raul are likely candidates for the bench.Two batsmen, one in each team, Rahul Dravid and Ijaz Ahmed, are at a critical juncture of their One-day career. While Dravid is looking to get it off the ground, Ijaz's inconsistency and poor form of the past few months have put him at the crossroad. Ijaz has further confessed to be under pressure because of match-fixing allegations levelled against him.In the bowling department, these surely are different times as far a pace attacks go. Imagine, such a cream of fast bowling talent emerging from the sub-continent of all places.India has a trio of impressive new-ball operators, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad while Pakistan too feels comfortable with the presence of Aaqib Javed, Azhar Mahmood and the nastiest ofthem all, Mohammad Zahid.Srinath's long lay off, if anything, has made him appear even better. He has better control on his line and length and he appears more in control of himself, a more focussed fast bowler also, his body language has changed remarkably and his head no longer drops if things don't go right. His physical appearance and even intimidating looks at the batsman are two welcome additions to his fast bowling armoury.Even though Agarkar has picked up wickets, he did not look particularly good in the two games. Prasad too was inconsistent, more so in the second game.Teams (likely)Pakistan: Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhanna, Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Aaquib Javed, Mohammad Zahid and Azhar Mahmood.India: Navjot Sidhu, Saurav Ganguly, Mohammed Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Jatin Paranjpe, Nayan Mongia, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar and Sunil Joshi.Umpires: Steve Dunne (NewZealand) and Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka).Match Referee: Peter Burge (Australia).
