NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Kapil takes a crack at the selectors

Indian cricket coach Kapil Dev said the selectors were not in a position to make an informed choice on the cricket team.

If they wanted to check the final 12 for the team starting tomorrow with South Africa, "the selectors should have been at the nets before us," the coach said.

Meanwhile, the captain of the South African team, Hansie Cronje said that the differences in the Indian camp could work to the benefit of his team.

"It might work a little bit in our favour," he told Star News channel, adding that troubles off the field do tend to show up on it too.

But Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar said these factors didn't matter to him.

"I leave it behind... I have a job on my hand, I have to go out and play. Even if I wasn't the captain, I still have the same responsibility," he told the channel.

Earlier, Kapil Dev had brushed off doubts about the morale of the Indian team after the disastrous Australian tour.

He said this was a new series and that the team was playing in its own backyard this time but said the team will have to work harder.

The South Africans are uncertain about Daryll Cullinan, who strained a hamstring in the match against the Board President's XI. Cronje said there is still a 50-50 chance that he may play.

Tendulkar said the track might help spinners but would not say whether India intended to go in with three spinners.

"We will decide the playing eleven on Thursday before the start of the match, in consultation with the selectors, he said.

On his team's strengths, Cronje said it is a more experienced and mature side then what it was on the last tour of India in 1996. He said his team was familiar with most Indian players, having played Agarkar and Chopra in the Nairobi one-day quadrangular series and the three newcomers -- Murali Kartik, Wasim Jaffer and Mohammad Kaif -- in the three-day match leading up to the Test.