Tendulkar, Kapil to meet selectors prior to meeting

Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar and coach Kapil Dev have been invited 'to meet the selectors' half an hour before the selection committee meeting scheduled to be held in Mumbai on Sunday to select the team for the first Test against South Africa to be played from February 24 to 28. According to highly placed sources close to Kapil Dev, the duo is not likely to be allowed to participate in the discussions. Instead, they would be asked to 'air' their views before the meeting.

Though not in BCCI's constitution (Rule No 32) to allow the coach to participate in the meeting, it has been a practice to invite the coach for the deliberations. Former managers and coaches like Ajit Wadekar, Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal and Anshuman Gaekwad used to attend the meetings along with the captain. However, there has been some rethinking on this following the team management's (coach Kapil Dev, captain Sachin Tendulkar and vice captain Saurav Ganguly) refusal to accept the selectors' choice to accommodate Nayan Mongia and Md Azharuddin in the team on tour to Australia. This has irked Board officials. Kapil Dev had gone to the extent of saying Azhar was not a popular man in the dressing room.

Following the team's poor showing on the tour `Down Under', the selectors are likely to include Azhar for the first Test. However, to avoid having likely resistance by the captain and coach, indications are high that both may not be allowed to participate in the discussions. Instead, the selectors would 'meet' them half an hour before the meeting.