Tendulkar to be included

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, AUG. 1. Sachin Tendulkar will be picked in the 16-member Indian team for the three Test series against Sri Lanka. The first Test against the islanders starts at Galle on August 14.

Tendulkar, has been confined to his home in Mumbai since his return from Zimbabwe, nursing a hairline fracture of the sesamoid bone of the great toe of his right foot. Tendulkar will visit an orthopaedic clinic for a bone scan on August 10, four days before the commencement of the Galle Test.

But on Thursday (Aug. 2), the national selectors will pick Tendulkar in the team. ``He (Tendulkar) will be selected subject to fitness. He will be in the 16-member squad,'' said Mr. Jaywant Y. Lele, hon. secretary, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Should medical experts caution and advise Tendulkar to take a longer rest, the selectors will pick a replacement for him on August 10. According to Mr. Lele, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), has agreed to play host to 16 players and officials. ``It's 15 for the triangular series and 16 for the Test series,'' said Mr. Lele.

The selectors, accustomed to choosing squads of 14 and 15, might be tempted to pick a third opener apart from the now established pair in Sadagopan Ramesh and Shiv Sundar Das. The name that's doing the rounds is Mumbai's Vinayak Mane, who caught the attention of a highly skillful bowler like Glenn McGrath in the Australia-Mumbai three day match at the Brabourne Stadium in February.

For batsman Venkatsai Laxman and left arm seamer Ashish Nehra, the Sri Lankan tour will terminate at the conclusion of the tri- series. Laxman has to mend his right knee cartilage and Nehra his troubling groin. Their replacements are likely to be Uttar Pradesh batsman Mohammad Kaif and Railways' fast medium bowler Harvinder Singh.

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Section  : Sport
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