Sachin out of ODI squad for Sri Lanka

Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled out of the one-day squad to tour Sri Lanka.

A foot injury has been cited as the reason.

Chandrakant Borde, chairman of the national selection committee, said Tendulkar would fly out later to join the team, probably for the last one-day international and most certainly for the Test series that follows.

"The injury is nothing serious, it just needs rest for a week or two," skipper Saurav Ganguly said after the selection committee's meeting.

Borde said Amay Khurasia, a surprise inclusion, would open in place of Tendulkar. "He opens for Central Zone and Madhya Pradesh, he is a clean hitter of the ball and can maximise the use of the first 15 overs," Borde said.

The squad shows only marginal changes from the one that did duty in the recent ODI triangular in Zimbabwe. Dinesh Mongia and Harvinder Singh are the notable omissions. Harvinder, Borde argued, was a better Test than ODI bowler. As for Mongia, the selectors debated long and hard between him and Yuvraj Singh, and fielding tipped the scales in favour of the latter.

"It was felt that the single most important factor in India's performance in Zimbabwe was the fielding, and Reetinder Singh Sodhi was the single element that lifted our fielding to a very high standard. Yuvraj Singh is another outstanding fielder, so it was felt that he should be given a second chance, in order to lift our fielding standards even further," Borde said, adding that Yuvraj is also a clean hitter of the ball.

Other names that were discussed were Sunil Joshi and Murli Karthik, with the latter being ruled out of contention on grounds of being physically unfit at this moment.

"Sanjay Bangar's name also came up for discussion, but the consensus was that he is better suited to the longer version of the game," Borde said.

Asked whether Sameer Dighe is being seen as a long-term prospect behind the stumps in light of the fact that the selectors have been talking of moulding a team for the 2003 World Cup, Borde pointed out that Alec Stewart at 37 was still playing.

Though the meeting was merely to pick an ODI squad (the team for the Tests may be picked on July 28), some time was spent discussing the question of openers in Tests. "Shiv Sunder Das," said Borde, "is a sure bet. We will be discussing options for the other opener, and the names we are considering include Sadagopan Ramesh, Vinayak Mane, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir and Connor Williams."

The ODI team picked on Monday afternoon is: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), V V S Laxman, Hemang Badani, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Virendra Sehwag, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Sameer Dighe, Debashish Mohanty, Rahul Sanghvi, Yuvraj Singh, and Amay Khurasia.

India will play a triangular one-day series in Sri Lanka involving New Zealand beginning July 19, with the final scheduled for August 2.