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Kanitkar to replace Jadeja

Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who is presently leading the India 'A' team in the West Indies, will replace Ajay Jadeja in the senior team for the tour of Australia.

Jadeja was ruled out of the Test team yesterday after the Indian team's physio Andrew Leipus, sports medicine expert Dr Anant Joshi and Johannesburg-based shoulder specialist Dr Mark Ferguson felt the allrounder needed three weeks' rest to treat his sore shoulder.

Meanwhile, Sitanshu Kotak, the Saurashtra southpaw, has been named as Kanitkar's standby for the West Indies tour subject to the tour management's approval.

Chairman of the selection committee Chandu Borde said Kanitkar's selection was a collective decision by the selectors, coach Kapil Dev and captain Sachin Tendulkar.

Borde said, ''Other than Kanitkar, the names of Mohammad Azharuddin, Jacob Martin and Nayan Mongia were discussed, but we took a collective decision to select Kanitkar.''

He said that since the youngsters were performing satisfactorily, and Kanitkar "has good performances to show", he was given a chance.

On the performance of M S K Prasad, he said that they are trying him out. "He has performed satisfactorily; you have to give more opportunities to these youngsters," he added.

Borde said Azharuddin's name too was considered. ''He is definitely a good player, but looking at the satisfactory performances of the youngsters we decided to choose Kanitkar."

The need for a replacement for Jadeja arose when he suffered a shoulder injury and had to pull out of the final one-dayer against the New Zealanders at Delhi. The board then decided to send Jadeja's medical reports to South African shoulder specialist Dr Mark Fergusson.

Jadeja was supposed to leave for South Africa on Sunday, but will now leave on Tuesday.

"We would like to have Jadeja back in the one-day squad, subject to his fitness status," Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele said.

Lele also talked about the playing conditions on the Australian tour.

"We have not agreed to play under lights on the Australian tour. The red ball will be difficult to sight under the dark background of lights, hence we have not agreed to play under lights for the Test series," he elaborated.

He also said that the board did not agree to extend play for an hour. "We have only agreed to extend play for half an hour to make up for lost time, and that too only at the close of play and not before the start of the day's play," he said.

It is still not clear whether Kanitkar will be flying directly from the West Indies to Australia or return to Bombay and then fly out the next day.

Lele said it is certain that Kanitkar will miss the opening four-day match against Queensland, begining on November 26 at Brisbane. However, he added that Kanitkar will still have two more warm-up games before the first Test, beginning on December 10.

India is slated to play three Test matches at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney before taking part in the triangular one-day series involving hosts Australia, Pakistan and India.

UNI