Shockwaves strike Indian camp

As if yesterday8217;s shocking revelation of the Chappell-Sehwag feud was not enough...

As if yesterday8217;s shocking revelation of the Chappell-Sehwag feud was not enough, and as if allegations of match-fixing in the West Indian series match at Nagpur were not enough, Team India today was reeling under more blows.

On the eve of the day-night series-opener against Sri Lanka, Yuvraj Singh was all but ruled out with a back strain, and Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar were in the sick bay too, the former with a sore shoulder and the latter seemingly down with a bout of flu.

Added to that was the rain 8212; it started drizzling from this evening 8212; and even if it does stop in time, the outfield should remain wet.

After a gruelling morning practice at Eden Gardens, skipper Rahul Dravid put up a brave face, rattling off the casualty list.

Injuries have resulted in the urgent induction as 12th man, Bengal8217;s young batting prodigy Manoj Tiwary. It was learnt that this was a move initiated by chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar.

Even as an otherwise diplomatic Dravid candidly admitted that the team needed to pull up its socks keeping the World Cup in mind, the bottomline was clear 8212; the fresh spree of injury worries and fitness problems has suddenly pushed talk of the 8216;World Cup Final 158217; into the background.

8220;Our immediate goal is to wait till the morning. Putting things in perspective, I now feel we need to work a lot harder if we want to do well in the World Cup,8221; Dravid confessed.

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As the Indian players trooped into the ground in the morning for practice, one could clearly feel the tension in the air, with the frenzied crowd abuzz every time Greg Chappell and Virender Sehwag crossed one another.

Mahela Jayawardene 038; Co went through the paces at the other end without much attention read: disturbance, while the near-thousand crowd was riveted to the action in the Indian team nets when the mercurial Sehwag was being given a torrid time by the local nets pacers. Chappell was around, looking out from the umpire8217;s position. For a change, even local hero Sourav Ganguly wasn8217;t the crowds8217; priority.

Dravid at least confirmed that he would persist with the new-found opening combination of Ganguly and Robin Uthappa. It8217;s also certain now that Sachin Tendulkar will take to the field tomorrow, and giving him company in the heavily reordered middle-order bracket will be Sehwag.

8220;Of course, Sachin will play, these are preparations for the World Cup. As for Viru, I hope taking time away from cricket for a while has helped him come back more focused and better prepared. Going by his style of batting, he8217;s one who just needs to regain confidence to become what he used to be when in form,8221; the captain said.

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Lacking the experience of stalwarts Muttiah Muralidharan and Chaminda Vaas in this series may have heavily dented the Lankan outfit, but Dravid, as usual isn8217;t keen on taking Tom Moody8217;s team for granted. 8220;If you go by current form, then they are better placed than us, as per ICC ratings. I know they are without their two top players. But for a side that is fast improving in the run-up to the World Cup, Sri Lanka will definitely be dangerous,8221; Dravid said.

With the lanky Munaf Patel bowling his heart out at the nets alongside Zaheer Khan 8212; now the only pace certainty for the match 8212; he will surely fancy his chances for the playing XI, as will S Sreesanth. With injury worries around, it was no wonder that the likes of Dinesh Kaarthick and Anil Kumble were toiling hard at the nets.

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