Nayan Mongia, Hirwani
back in team

India discards wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia and leg spinner Narendra Hirwani are among the 14 named by the selectors for the first Test against Australia, at Bombay, from February 27 to March 3.

Also finding a place in the Indian team are youngsters, left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi and middle order batsman Hemang Badani, and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who who last played for India against New Zealand at Ahmedabad, in the 1999 series.

Addressing a press conference after the selection committee meeting, which was attended by all the five selectors, coach John Wright, India skipper Sourav Ganguly and Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele, selection committee chairman Chandu Borde said Hirwani, who played his last Test against South Africa, at Calcutta during the 1996-97 tour, got the nod ahead of Sairaj Bahutule and Balaji Rao mainly because of his accuracy.

"Wright, the Indian coach, noticed during the Nagpur game that leg-spinner Balaji Rao managed to trouble the Aussies when he pitched the ball in the right place," he informed.

Borde said Nayan Mongia got the nod ahead of Vijay Dahiya, because "the selectors were of the opinion that he is the best wicketkeeper in India".

Indeed, Mongia's recent batting exploits too weighed on the minds of the selectors. The Baroda captain, who was exonerated of wrongdoing by the BCCI following its vigilance commissioner K Madhavan's report on match-fixing in Indian cricket, had scored a Test best of 152 against the Aussies, at the Ferozshah Kotla, when they toured India for the one-off Test in 1996.

Harbajan seems to be a certainty for the first Test, while the fight for the other spinner's slot will be between Sanghvi and Hirwani.

While the batting order and the slot for the seamers are as good as decided, it is heartening to see Badani, who has impressed all with his ice-cool temperament and gutsy batting in recent matches, get the call-up.

However, the selection of some players were not the only surprises of the day. More surprising was Borde and Lele's statement that they are unaware about the injuries sustained by Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar. They went on to add that team physio Andrew Leipus has not informed the board about any such injuries.

Borde pleaded ignorance about newspaper reports on the two players' injuries, saying: "I was in Nagpur watching the India A match against Australia and did not know about it."

Australia will play three Tests and five one-day internationals on their tour.

The 14-member team:

Sourav Ganguly (captain)
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Sadagoppan Ramesh
Shiv Sundar Das
V V S Laxman
Hemang Badani
Nayan Mongia
Zaheer Khan
Ajit Agarkar
Rahul Sanghvi
Narendra Hirwani
Harbhajan Singh
Javagal Srinath

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Up close with the Aussies

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