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Sharjah squad: Srinath, Mohanty, Robin dropped; Harbhajan, Harvinder return

Speedsters Javagal Srinath and Debashish Mohanty and all-rounder Robin Singh have been dropped from the Indian team for the triangular cricket tournament to be played at Sharjah from April 17 to 24.

The 14-member team announced includes Harvinder Singh, who has been selected in Mohanty's place.

The team: Mohammed Azharuddin (captain), Ajay Jadeja (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vinod Kambli, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia, V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Harvinder Singh, Rahul Sanghvi and Harbhajan Singh.

Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele said Harvinder was preferred because he was faster than Mohanty and might bowl better on flat wickets.

Acting chairman of the selection committee Kishan Rungta said some new players also came up for consideration, but it was decided to retain the present lot. Offspinner Rajesh Chauhan was also considered, he said, adding ''We want to see more of Harbhajan Singh.''

Opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose consistent performances shared star billing with Tendulkar's fireworks in the Test series against Australia, was not mentioned in the 30-minute meeting of the selection committee!

Rahul Dravid, Rungta said, had been instructed to improve his run rate per ball in the limited over edition of the game!

Both Lele and Rungta expressed satisfaction over the team's performance. ''They are playing collectively with team spirit at the helm,'' Lele said.

The selectors apparently did not want to take a chance with the injured Srinath and Robin Singh. Interestingly, in typical BCCI doublespeak, Lele was quoted on Monday as saying that there was no controversy surrounding Srinath's injury and that ''it was just a mild sidestrain'' suffered during the second Test at Calcutta.

Robin Singh fractured his hand during nets at Kochi last Monday and missed the current triangular series.

India faces New Zealand in the opening match of the $ 85,000 Coca-Cola Cup day-night tournament.

UNI