Laxman pulls out from next Ranji match of Hyderabad

VVS Laxman, who is recuperating from a back injury, has pulled out of Hyderabad's upcoming Ranji fixture against Bengal beginning at Eden Gardens from Saturday.

"He is still recovering from the back injury. But he's not yet ruled out of the entire season. We may get his services with two more matches left (after Bengal)," media manager T Seshanarayan said.

The retired India batsman pulled a back muscle during their tie against Madhya Pradesh in which he scored 120 as he played two of the five matches Hyderabad played in the group A league this season.

Hyderabad meanwhile have made three changes to their squad bringing in uncapped Parth Jhala, Mehdi Hasan and reserve wicketkeeper Habib Ahmed in place of Abhinav Kumar, Lalit Mohan and M A Khader.

"We are infusing young blood into the side. Hyderabad may be the youngest side in the Ranji with average age being around 22-23. We have some talented youngsters. We are hoping for a few good matches to revive our quarterfinal hopes," he added.

After Bengal, Hyderabad face Railways at home (December 22-25), followed by their away fixture against Rajasthan (December 29-January 1).

Hyderabad (six points) are placed above bottom-placed Rajasthan in the group A table.

The squad: Akshath Reddy (c), B Sandeep, Anwar Khan, Ravi Kiran, Paramveer Singh, Sarvesh Kumar, Ahmed Kadri, Akash Bhandari, K Sumant, Habib Ahmed, Ashish Reddy, Vishal Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Parth Jhala, Mehdi Hasan.