Port-of-Spain, Nov 18: Fast bowler Dodda Ganesh, the only member of the India cricket team with Test experience, is struggling to be fit for the opening `Test' of the series against West Indies beginning tomorrow.Ganesh, who played the last two of his four Test matches on the 1997 senior tour of the Caribbean, strained his right thigh muscle during a training session before the team's four-day tour opener against Trinidad and Tobago which ended on Tuesday.The lanky Karnataka pacer bowled just three overs before retiring for the rest of the rain-plagued match which ended in a draw.Coach Roger Binny said the 26-year-old Ganesh missed Wednesday's net session at the Queen's Park Oval, venue for the first of two unofficial `Test' matches against West Indies A.Binny said he was disappointed that the rain washed out much of the play in the team's opening encounter.``Rain really spoilt the match,'' the former India all-rounder said. ``Conditions were slippery and not exactly the best preparation.''But the 44-year-old Binny said his batsmen did not make the most of their time in the middle.``If the batsmen were willing to occupy the crease a bit more, we could have gained a bit more from the match,'' Binny added. India made totals of 227 and 163. Jacob Martin, the Baroda right-hander, with a top score of 82 in the first innings and the left-handed captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar, with 57, were the only batsmen to score half centuries.West Indies a would have been boosted by the performance of leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine in that match. The 24-year-old Trinidadian, back in first-class cricket after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier in the year, took eight wickets for 121 and earned the Man of the Match award.Ramnarine will appear in tomorrow's first `Test' before he and his a team skipper, Jimmy Adams, join the senior West Indies squad for their tour of New Zealand starting in December.Besides Ramnarine and Adams, the West Indies a includes three players with Test experience, leg-spinner Rawl Lewis, fast bowler Nixon McLean and right-handed batsman Lincoln Roberts.Teams:India A: Hrishikesh Kanitkar (captain), Gagan Khoda, (vice-captain), Jagdish Arunkumar, Amit Bhandari, Devendra Bundela, Samir Dighe, Dodda Ganesh, Mohammad Kaif, Murali Kartik, Jacob Martin, Prabhanjan Mullick, Rahul Sanghvi, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Harvinder Singh Sodhi, Sridharan Sriram.West Indies A: Jimmy Adams (captain), Darren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Sylvester Joseph, Rawl Lewis, Dwight Mais, Nixon McLean, Brenton Parchment, Wayne Phillip, Goldwyn Prince, Dinanath Ramnarine, Lincoln Roberts, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Rodney Sooklal.
