Jadeja replaces Laxman in Indian lineup for fourth Test

The Indian tour management, smarting from the defeat in the third Test, have recalled Ajay Jadeja to the lineup to open the batting in the fourth Test, beginning at the Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua on Friday.

The Haryana batsman replaces Hyderabad's Venkat Laxman, who after a good half century in his first outing, has not been among the runs in the remaining innings of the three Tests. Jadeja, for his part, last played Test cricket in course of the 1996 tour of England, batting at number 6 in the final Test before being discarded.

The 26-year-old Haryana star has been an integral part of the Indian one-day lineup, but has struggled to make the grade in the longer version of the game. Thus, he has only eight Tests, as against 83 ODIs, to his credit.

The partnership of Jadeja and Sidhu is the seventh pair tried out by India in Tests in the ongoing season, beginning with the first Test against England at Birmingham in June 1996. Since then, India has opened with Jadeja and Vikram Rathore, Nayan Mongia and Rathore, Mongia and Sanjay Manjrekar, Mongia and Rahul Dravid, Mongia and Woorkeri Raman and Laxman and Sidhu.

India has also included left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi in their 12-man squad, though he is expected to be the odd man out. The pitch at St John's has a healthy layer of grass, and this could prompt the Indians into retaining the seam trio of Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvilla and Dodda Ganesh, who performed creditably in the III Test at Barbados, bowling the West Indies out for 140 in the second innings only to see their own batsmen surrender for 81.

The West Indies, now leading the five Test series 1-0, are lifted meanwhile by the return of their skipper Courtney Walsh. The 34-year-old Jamaican has recovered from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss the team's dramatic 38-run win at Barbados, and will replace Mervyn Dillon in the lineup.

Walsh, who became the second West Indian to grab over 300 wickets in Tests, could well by joined by fellow paceman Curtley Ambrose in course of the fourth Test. The slim Antiguan, who began his career nine years ago, is just five short of the 300 mark, and will be looking to reach the milestone in front of his home crowd.

Interestingly, in this series, it is with the bat more than ball that Ambrose has been in the limelight. As of now, he averages 30 for the series, having scored 104 runs in the preceeding Tests, and now needs just 10 more to total 1,000 Test runs. If and when he crosses that mark, he will join Sir Garfield Sobers and Malcolm Marshall as the only West Indians to have achieved the double of 100 Test wickets and 1000 runs.

The umpires for the match, meanwhile, are Steve Bucknor of Jamaica and B C Cooray of Sri Lanka, while South African Peter Van Der Merwe will be the match referee.