Rohan Gavaskar replaces injured Kaif

Rohan Gavaskar has been called up in place of Mohammad Kaif for the forthcoming VB Series in Australia. Kaif, a regular member of the Indians one-day squad, pulled out of the tournament after sustaining a thumb injury during a recent A team cricket tournament.

The national selectors chose Gavaskar for the series after consulting doctors for a second opinion on Kaif's injury, said SK Nair, secretary of the Indian cricket board. "The middle-order batsman was initially examined by doctors in Kolkata," Nair said. "It was recommended that before a final decision in this regard, a second medical opinion on his injury be taken after few days."

Dr. Anant Joshi, an orthopaedic surgeon who heads BCCI's medical panel, informed the board that the injured thumb would take two to three weeks to heal completely.

The VB Series begins on January 9, after the final Border-Gavaskar Test is played in Sydney.

Gavaskar, an attacking middle-order batsman for Bengal, made his first-class debut in 1996-97, and has played 81 matches since, scoring close to 5000 runs, with an average of 46.34. As a limited-overs player, he has played 88 games, averaging 32.4, with a solitary century, and 15 half-centuries. He participated in the recent Kenstar A team tournament - involving teams from Sri Lanka and Pakistan - and was dismissed off the first ball he faced in his only innings.

Kaif played for India's A team in the Kenstar tournament, and gathered two 70s and a nought in the three matches he played.