Laxman faces axe as India look to one-day players

Kingston, May 24: Vangipurappu Laxman is likely to be left out of India's first one-day international against West Indies on Saturday despite having top-scored in the Test series.

India, who have an abundance of riches in their middle-order with all of their new one-day specialists having delivered in the last few months, have also asked Rahul Dravid to keep wickets in order to give the team balance.

"It's hard to leave out guys like Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif after their recent success against England and Zimbabwe," Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said on Friday.

"Rahul will keep wickets. He has done it well in the past and we are keen on the experiment keeping next year's World Cup in mind."

Laxman, one of India's most reliable Test players, scored 474 runs in the just-concluded five-match series.

"It's good to see there are so many good players fighting for places in the side as we bid to salvage pride after losing the Test series 2-1. The youngsters bring a lot of energy to the side," Ganguly said.

But non-stop rain over the last two days have put the opening two one-dayers in doubt and organisers are looking at the possibility of starting the back-to-back matches on Sunday rather than on Saturday.

Explosive top-order batsman Virender Sehwag comes back into the team after being sidelined for two months due to a shoulder injury and Ganguly said he expected great things from the 23-year-old from New Delhi.

While Ganguly and star batsman Sachin Tendulkar hold the world record for most century opening partnerships in one-dayers, Sehwag has shone whenever he has opened.

His century off 69 balls against New Zealand in Sri Lanka last year powered India to a memorable win that ensured they made the final of the tri-series.

Left-hander Mongia also batted himself to the man-of-the-series award and struck a match-winning hundred against Zimbabwe while batting as opener in Tendulkar and Sehwag's absence.

"It's a tough choice, not at all easy," Ganguly said. "We have decided that Sachin and I will open in case we bat first and Sehwag and I in case we are chasing. Having Sachin in the middle-order will give us more reliability then."

Paceman Tinu Yohannan is likely to make his one-day debut ahead of left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra, whose incisive spells were India's bowling highlight of the Tests.

"We want to give Tinu a chance," Ganguly said. "Nehra has had a tough Test series and he deserves some rest."

Yohannan, who picked up four wickets in two Tests against England earlier this year, had three scalps in his only match of the tour so far against Busta XI at St. Lucia last month.

The West Indies have called up Barbados fast bowler Corey Collymore and all-rounder Gareth Breese into the 13-member squad in place of Adam Sanford and Dinanath Ramnarine, who were in the Test side.

India (probable): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Tinu Yohannan.

West Indies (from): Carl Hooper (captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs (wicketkeeper), Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Cameron Cuffy, Gareth Breese, Corey Collymore, Ryan Hinds.