Saurav retains captaincy for WI series

The new panel of selectors under the leadership of Brijesh Patel met for the first time at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday and decided t...

The new panel of selectors under the leadership of Brijesh Patel met for the first time at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday and decided to retain Sourav Ganguly as the team captain for the home series against West Indies starting October 4.

The committee also decided to reward Mohammed Kaif’s contribution in the recent series in England and the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka by naming him as captain of the Board President XI for the three-day tour opener to be held from October 4-6 at Bangalore.

	THE SCHEDULE
Oct 1: Arrival Oct 4-6: Versus Board President’s XI (Bangalore) Oct 9-13: First Test (Mumbai) Oct 17-21: Second Test (Chennai) Oct 24-26: Vs India A (Pune) Oct 30-Nov 3: Third Test (Kolkata) Nov 6: First ODI (Jamshedpur) Nov 9: Second ODI (Nagpur9) Nov 12: Third ODI (Rajkot) Nov 14: Fourth ODI (Ahmedabad/ D/N) Nov 18: Fifth ODI (Vadodara) Nov 21: Sixth ODI (Jodhpur) Nov 24: Seventh ODI (Vishakhapatnam) Story continues below this ad

BCCI secretary and convenor of the Selection Committee, SK Nair told reporters that the selectors will meet again on October 5 during the three-day match to pick the team for the first Test starting in Mumbai on October 9. The 14-member Board President’s XI picked at the two-hour long meeting includes Sanjay Bangar, Dinesh Mongia and wicketkeepers Parthiv Patel and Ajay Ratra.

Board President’s XI: Mohammad Kaif (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel, Amit Mishra, Murali Kartik, L Balaji, Tinu Yohannan, Ajay Ratra, Sarandeep Singh, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Aakash Chopra.

Meanwhile, the Carl Hooper led West Indies team would arrive in Bangalore on October 1 for their 56-day tour of India. Cricket board executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar, said.

They are scheduled to play three Tests in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta and seven one-dayers from November 6 to 24. The visitors will play their tour opener against Board President’s XI in Bangalore from October 4-6 and their second practice match before the third Test against India A at Pune from October 24-26. The Windies team will be without the services of their star player Brian Lara.