Indian cricketers, currently playing the English county circuit, have been requested by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to make themselves available for the national preparatory camp, starting in Bangalore on August 14.

"We have it in the minutes of a meeting that the cricketers are being requested to make themselves available for the camp," BCCI Joint Secretary Jyoti Bajpai said.

"Whether they actually do it or not depends on how they are able to convince their counties," he added.

Six Indian cricketers were contracted to play county cricket, but only Yuvraj Singh (Yorkshire), Mohammad Kaif (Derbyshire) and Rahul Dravid (Scotland) remain on the circuit. The stints of Javagal Srinath (Durham) and Virender Sehwag (Leicestershire) are over. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh did not make it to Lancashire because of a finger injury.

According to the county schedule, Yuvraj and Kaif could make themselves available by the third week of August. Dravid's stint extends till September 7.

Bajpai is emphatic that the Board, even if it is adopting a tone of "request" for the camp, would "definitely" like to see the cricketers available for the Challenger Trophy, starting in Bangalore on September 10.

"The Challenger Series is an important event in our calendar. We need to see our best 36 players in the event," Bajpai said.

Be that as it may, the date for the selection of the 25 probables for the national camp is undecided. Even as one national selector said he has been told the selection will be made on August 3, the news emanating from Bangalore suggests Brijesh Patel, chairman of the selectors, will return from a trip to the United States only on August 5.

The selectors are also not sure about the injury status of a few cricketers. The picture on Sehwag is far from clear. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that at least four India 'A' cricketers were also on the injury list at some time or the other on the current tour of England -- S Sriram (Tamil Nadu), Vijay Bharadwaj (Karnataka), Amit Bhandari (Delhi) and Avishkar Salvi (Mumbai).

"It's not a development we like. Earlier we used to be informed about the injury status of cricketers by the physio of the national team, Andrew Leipus. Now it is no longer being done. Even though a physio is traveling with the India 'A' team, we are in dark if somebody is carrying injury serious enough not to be considered for the camp," one selector said.

A couple of cricketers who currently find themselves out of the loop since they don't have cricket contracts or were not selected for the India 'A' team -- like Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Mongia -- are waiting anxiously for the new season to unfold. Ditto with Deep Dasgupta. Selected for the India 'A' side for England, he hasn't played a game till date and doesn't know if he will be rated good enough to be in the top 25 for the preparatory camp!

Also read:

Indians in County

India 'A' tour of England