Nehra and Zaheer are fit to tour South Africa

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly will at last be able to draw on the services of left-arm pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. The two young men who find a special place in skipper Sourav Ganguly's heart have been passed fit after Tests at the Brabourne Stadium. All that remains now is for chairman of selectors Chandu Borde to announce their inclusion in the Test squad later in the day.

It was the Board of Control of Cricket in India's new sports-medicine expert, Dr Anant Joshi, who certified both Nehra and Khan to be fit after drills lasting one-and-a-half hours.

"Now it's up to the selectors," Sharad Diwadkar, executive secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India told Reuters. "They will meet around noon," he added.

Ganguly has been rather keen on Nehra's inclusion from the start and threw his weight behind Nehra when the latter demanded a chance to prove his fitness for the one-day series. It was another matter that physio Andrew Leipus decided that Nehra would have to undergo a further two-weeks rehabilitation programme before joining the squad.

The Delhi left-arm quick and Zaheer Khan are probably the two most promising fast bowlers in the country and are expected to lead the Indian attack in the coming years. At least one of the two is expected to play in the first Test between India and South Africa from November 3-7 at Bloemfontein. This is especially likely considering the fact that Ganguly apparently isn't happy with the quicks currently playing the one-dayers. When asked about the performance of the fast bowlers after the one-dayer at East London last Friday, the Indian skipper said, "Look at it this way. In this game against South Africa, I needed to employ four spinners in the middle overs. You can make your own judgement from that."

Hopefully then, the arival of Nehra and Zaheer Khan would provide succour to the beleagured Indian skipper and team.