Azhar, Jadeja axed; Kapil in limbo

The national cricket selectors on Saturday dropped former captains Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja along with off-spinner Nikhil Chopra - - whose homes and offices were searched by Income Tax officials recently - - from the list of 23 probables for the ICC knockout tournament in Nairobi next month.

A decision on Kapil Dev continuing as coach will be announced by Board of Control for Cricket in India president A C Muthiah before the start of the conditioning camp in Madras on September 14, board secretary Jaywant Lele told reporters immediately after the selection committee meeting in Madras.

Lele said the final squad for the Nairobi tournament will be named on September 20 while the camp will end on September 23.

Chairman of selectors Chandu Borde said pace spearhead Javagal Srinath was not considered as he had requested to be kept out of the one-day team.

Explaining his decision to leave Azharuddin, Jadeja and Chopra out, Borde said: "I was not told to drop any one. But the selectors decided to groom youngsters keeping the 2003 World Cup in mind."

All three may have contributed to their omission by their poor form this year. Azharuddin, the most experienced one-day player in the world, scored just one half-century in 11 matches this year. Jadeja had two fifties in as many games, while off-spinner Chopra managed just three wickets in four matches.

There was also no place for veteran wicketkeepers Nayan Mongia and Saba Karim, who have alternately kept wickets in one-day matches over the past few years. Their place has gone to three untested, but promising 'keepers - - Ajay Ratra, Reuben Paul and Vijay Dahiya. One of them will make the trip to Nairobi.

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid will be captain and vice-captain respectively.

The probables: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, S Ramesh, Vinod Kambli, Hemang Badani, S Sriram, Yuvraj Singh, Jacob Martin, Mohd Kaif, Ajay Ratra, Reuben Paul, Vijay Dahiya, Robin Singh, Sunil Joshi, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Amit Bhandari, Zahir Khan, T Kumaran and Debashish Mohanty.

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Mail Cricket Editor