The national selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India will meet on Monday, March 1, to select the team for the historic forty-day tour of Pakistan starting March 10.
The BCCI has also decided to conduct a three-day 'conditioning camp' for the team in Kolkata starting March 7.
"The date [for the selection committee meeting] has been advanced [from the original March 3] with a view to accommodate a three-day conditioning camp," BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters.
The team will leave by a special Indian Airlines flight for Pakistan on March 10. "Barring Harbhajan Singh, all other players who had been nursing injuries will be fit and available for selection," Dalmiya said.
Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI joint secretary who was part of the three-member team that toured Pakistan early this month to assess the security situation, has been named the Indian team's manager for the historic tour.
Professor Shetty, who teaches chemistry at Wilson College in Mumbai, was the manager when India toured Sri Lanka in 1997. Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif's allegations against then captain Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja had threatened to rock Indian cricket. But Shetty's astute handling of the situation there earned the respect of one and all.
Dalmiya said the issue of appointing a bowling coach for the forthcoming Pakistan tour was not discussed at the working committee meeting. He said the BCCI had not received any formal request from Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on this score.