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India
name three spinners and a wicket keeper
New
Delhi, January 14: India on Monday picked three spinners and a new
wicket-keeper for the first half of the six-match limited-overs series
against England starting later this week.
Off-spinners
Sarandeep Singh and Harbhajan Singh will join leggie Anil Kumble in the
14-man squad for the first three matches at Calcutta (January 19), Cuttack
(Jan 22) and Madras (Jan 25).
The team
for the last three one-dayers will be picked after the Madras match
against Nasser Hussain's tourists, chairman of selectors Chandu Borde
said.
Uncapped
Haryana wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra displaces Deep Dasgupta, who scored runs
in the last two Test series against South Africa and England, but kept
wickets poorly.
The
Indian team, led by Sourav Ganguly, includes star batsman Venkatsai
Laxman, who missed the South Africa one-day series due to a knee injury,
and new all-rounder Sanjay Bangar.
The
batting has been further strengthened by the return of left-hander Hemang
Badani and middle-order batsman Dinesh Mongia.
Left-arm
paceman Zaheer Khan is one of the three new-ball bowlers alongwith Javagal
Srinath and Ajit Agarkar.
Borde
said three spinners had been picked to add variety to the attack.
"When
we see the wicket for the matches, probably only two spinners will
play," Borde said. "But we wanted to have more options."
Borde
justified Ratra's selection behind the stumps, saying the 22-year-old was
a "better choice for one-day cricket" than Dasgupta.
Borde
said he was concerned about the batting form of Ganguly, but remained
confident the Indian captain will come good in the series.
"Sourav
is going through a rough patch, but he is too good a batsman to fail for
long," said Borde, adding Ganguly will continue to open the batting
with long-time partner Sachin Tendulkar.
Indian
squad:
Saurav
Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virender Sehwag,
Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Anil Kumble, Ajay Ratra (wicket-keeper),
Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer
Khan, Sanjay Bangar.
Coach:
John Wright
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