The India 'A' squad currently touring England, which is carrying three injured players in a total of 16, has been refused replacements by the national selectors even after the team routed Leicestershire in a limited overs match on Sunday.

The three injured players are Tamil Nadu middle order batsman Sridharan Sriram, who suffered a hairline fracture in his left arm while batting in the nets, Karnataka all-rounder Vijay Bharadwaj, who suffered a hairline fracture of a fingertip, and Mumbai pace bowler Avishkar Salvi, who has split the webbing of his left hand.

Complete coverage: The India 'A' tour of England

All three are doubtful for the next three-day game starting tomorrow against Yorkshire at Headingley.

Team coach Sandeep Patil told rediff.com on telephone yesterday that the injuries had been reported to the selectors. But S K Nair, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told Patil that since the squad has 16 players no replacements would be flown in.

"We are already carrying five openers," Patil said. "So if Sriram is unfit we have four others to choose from. Either [left-arm spinner] Murali Kartik or [legspinner] Amit Mishra will replace Vijay Bharadwaj." Bharadwaj himself is expected to recover in a week.

"Our job is to report the matter, not ask for replacements," Patil rationalised. "But one more injury and we will be in real trouble."

On Sunday, chasing 262 against a half-strength Leicestershire, India 'A' skipper Hemang Badani of Tamil Nadu scored a scintillating hundred off just 76 balls while left-handed Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir scored a half-century to enable the team to reach the target comfortably with more than five overs to spare.

"It was an excellent wicket," Patil said. "I was very happy we contained them to 262. At one stage I thought they would touch 300. But in the last 10 overs Murali Kartik and Irfan Pathan bowled very well despite the fact that they [Leicester] had wickets in hand.

"When we started chasing we lost two wickets of [Baroda opener] Satyajit Parab and [Bengal captain] Rohan Gavaskar. But Badani and Gambhir played a cracker of an innings."

Patil, himself no mean tonker of the cricket ball, was fulsome in his praise for the youngsters. "Very rarely have I seeing hitting like that," he remarked.

He was all praise for the team as a whole too. "All frontline batsmen have got hundreds," he said. "Hemang Badani got two hundreds, Rohan, Gambhir [one each]. The experience of English cricket will help the India 'A' team.

The man who made a new name for himself as Kenya's coach at the 2003 World Cup was, however, not convinced with the bowling order yet. "The seamers are not getting early breakthroughs," he said. "But I am happy with the way the series has gone for the team so far."

With three wins in four games, Patil has reason to be happy.