Surprises in Asia Cup probables list

There are several surprises in the probables list for the Asia Cup to be held in Dhaka from May 28. The list, as announced on Friday in Mumbai by chairman of the selection committee Chandu Borde has 25 names. All but two, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, will attend a ten day conditioning camp to be held in Pune from May 15 to 24. The final 14 will be selected on May 22 at Pune.

Dravid and Kumble will not be attending the camp as they are playing county cricket in England. Sourav Ganguly, who as expected was named captain, however has intimated to the Board that he will be attending the camp. Ganguly too is playing county cricket.

There are four new faces - Hemang Badani the left handed batsman from Tamil Nadu, RS Sodhi, the all rounder from Punjab, pace bowler Zaheer Khan from Baroda and SS Das, the opening batsman from Orissa. Md Kaif, the middle order batsman from Uttar Pradesh, has played in a Test match but not in a one day international.

There is no place for VVS Laxman who was the highest run getter in the Ranji Trophy or Kanwaljit Singh, the highest wicket taker in the national competition.

Initial reports said that 20 probables would be chosen. But according to Borde, because of the heat conditions in Pune, 25 were chosen. ``We would require a lot of bowlers since they would get tired in the humid conditions,'' said Borde. The chairman added that team physio Andrew Leipus would be present at the camp.

One supposes that Kumble and Dravid will be automatic choices for Dhaka. As Borde put it while explaining their inclusion, ``since the two are already playing county cricket, they are already getting conditioned.''

Vinod Kambli gets another chance. He last played for the country in the DMC Cup at Toronto in September last year.

The probables: Sourav Ganguly (Bengal, captain), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Md Azharuddin (Hyderabad), Ajay Jadeja (J & K), Jacob Martin (Baroda), Hemang Badani (Tamil Nadu), Vinod Kambli (Mumbai), Md Kaif (Uttar Pradesh), Murali Kartik (Railways), Robin Singh (Tamil Nadu), Ajit Agarkar (Mumbai), T Kumaran (Tamil Nadu), Amit Bhandari (Delhi), Zaheer Khan (Baroda), Nayan Mongia (Baroda), Saba Karim (Bengal), Nikhil Chopra (Delhi), S Ramesh (Tamil Nadu), S Sriram (Tamil Nadu), Sunil Joshi (Karnataka), Rahul Dravid (Karnataka), Anil Kumble (Karnataka), SS Das (Orissa), RS Sodhi (Punjab) and H Kanitkar (Maharashtra).