Mongia, Dahiya, Prasad Not Among 26 Probables

As many as seven medium pacers have been included in the list of 26 probables for the Indian cricket team's tour of Zimbabwe next month, but wicket-keepers Nayan Mongia and Vijay Dahiya and paceman Venkatesh Prasad have been dropped.

Apart from the regulars Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, national selectors have also picked Debashish Mohanty, Ashish Nehra, Harvinder Singh and Rakesh Patel for the conditioning camp to be held in Bangalore between May 13 and May 18.

Sameer Dighe and Ajay Ratra are the two wicket-keepers in the list, which also includes four spinners -- Harbhajan Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi and Sairaj Bahutule.

India will play two Tests against Zimbabwe followed by a triangular one-day series which would also involve West Indies.

Saurav Ganguly has been retained as the captain.

The Probables: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Hemang Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, Shiv Sunder Das, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Samir Dighe, Ajay Ratra, Deep Das Gupta, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harvinder Singh, Ashish Nehra, Debasish Mohanty, Rakesh Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi, Sairaj Bahutule and Retinder Sodhi.

PTI

Mail Cricket Editor