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Dravid back in ODI squad

The national selectors today reinducted Rahul Dravid into the national one day squad, for the upcoming three nation series that kicks off at Mohali on May 14.

Meanwhile, the captaincy of the squad will be shared by Ajay Jadeja and Mohammad Azharuddin -- a state of affairs necessitated by the fact that Azhar is slated to attend the meeting of international cricket captains scheduled to be held in London, under ICC aegis, on May 18.

Thus, Azharuddin will lead India in game one, against Bangladesh. If he gets back in time, he will also lead India in its second game, on May 20 at Bangalore against Kenya -- after which he will hand over the reins, for the remaining league games, to Jadeja.

If, however, Azhar fails to make it back in time, then Jadeja will lead in game two and three, with Azhar returning to the helm for the fourth league game, and the final.

All of which sounds horribly complicated, but isn't really -- it just means that Azhar and Jadeja, during the league phase of the tournament, will lead the side in two games apiece. The position will be clearer when Azharuddin, now in Hong Kong, returns to India and works out his own schedule.

The Indian skipper is due here on May 10.

Rotation, in fact, seems to have been the predominant thought in the selectors' collective minds while picking the side for the first two games.

The side reads thus: Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Gagan Khoda, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, M S K Prasad, Robin Singh, Sairaj Bahutule, Ajit Agarkar, Debashish Mohanty, Rahul Sanghvi, Nikhil Haldipur and Harvinder Singh.

The idea, said acting chairman of selectors Kishen Rungta, is to have all senior players with the exception of Javagal Srinath play at various stages, even as the fringe players get a chance to strut their stuff. Thus, after two games, Ganguly and Azharuddin will make way for Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, and so on.

"The idea is for everyone to play, nobody will be dropped or retained irrespective of his form," Rungta said.

Rungta, unlike the late Ramakant Desai, appeared quite ready to take the media head on. At one point, he sarcastically said he had decided to file away advice from the journalists, for future reference. And at another point, when asked to comment about a media story, said, "It is not my business to answer everybody."

Regarding Srinath, Rungta said that the fast bowler will remain on the injured list, and will be available again only for the Independence Cup, in Sri Lanka, in June.

"The selectors have kept two pitns in mind," said Rungta, commenting about the exercise. "On the one hand, we didn't want to pick a totally raw side and suffer embarassment later, and the other was to make sure we didn't turn it into an All India camp kind of affair."

This statement was an indirect pointer to the non-inclusion of players like the prolific Jatin Paranjpe and Amol Majumdar, among others. Interestingly, Nikhil Haldipur, the left-handed opening batsman from Bengal, and Andhra wicket-keeper batsman M S K Prasad, both get a look in. Both players were picked, said Rungta, on the basis of their showing during the recent India A tour of Pakistan.

Later in the league phase, Prasad will make way for Saba Karim or Nayan Mongia. India, meanwhile, will rotate Haldipur, Ganguly and Khoda in the opener's slot.

Asked about the non-inclusion of Winston Zaidi and Obaid Kamal, the two Uttar Pradesh seamers who had dethroned Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals last month, Rungta said, "With all due respect to their show, both bowlers are now over the age group that we are keen to encourage."

However, said Rungta, UP batsmen Mohammad Kaif and Saif Mohammad both came in for serious thought, with the selectors finally deciding that both were too young to be tried in an international. "Both players will figure in the India A side to go on the ICC development tour to Holland next month," he said.

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid gets another chance to remove the impression in the selectorial mindset that he is too restricted a batsman for the one day format. As for Sairaj Bahutule, now in England, Rungta said if Bahutule was on a contract, it was up to him to break it and represent India.

In a gesture, the national selectors announced a collective donation of Rs 50,000 to the family of the late Ramakant Desai, who till recently had chaired the committee. Announcing the donation, board secretary J Y Lele said all five selectors had pooled in equal amounts to make it possible.

Moving a resolution placing Desai's services on record, Rungta said, "It was a pleasure working with him and, to be honest, he was the only selector who never lost his cool, his suggestions were like requests even though, as chairman, he had the greatest powers. He showed how to serve with humility, and we shall try to emulate him."