Tendulkar's absence not a worry, says Ganguly

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly says he is not worried by batsman Sachin Tendulkar's withdrawal due to injury from the tri-series involving New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar was expected to join the team for India's July 28 match against the hosts but his participation in the tournament, which ends on August 5, was ruled out after doctors in India discovered a hairline fracture on his right foot.

"He is a great player. We will miss him," Ganguly told reporters after a practice session on Thursday.

"But there is nothing to worry about. It's not that we've never done well without Tendulkar in the past. I'm confident we'll do okay."

Ganguly pointed out that India had won a three-match series against the West Indies in Toronto and made the final of a four-nation series in Kenya, both when Tendulkar had been nursing a back injury in 1999.

"We have a young team, the average age is 23. We're eager to win," he added.

India start their campaign in a day/night game against New Zealand at Colombo's Premadasa Stadium on Friday.

Sri Lanka beat the Kiwis by 16 runs at the same ground in the opening game of the series on Wednesday.

AGARKAR UNWELL

But India will be without medium pacer Ajit Agarkar, who has suffered sun stroke, for their first match.

Agarkar skipped practice on Thursday and has been left out for Friday's game along with swing bowler Debasish Mohanty.

"Ajit has not been feeling well since yesterday. He won't be able to play tomorrow. We have also decided to leave out Mohanty," Ganguly said.

Batsman Rahul Dravid also missed practice due to an ankle injury but Ganguly said he would be fit to play on Friday.

But the captain said India were still not decided on what their opening option would be in Tendulkar's absence.

"It's between Yuvraj Singh and Amay Khurasiya at the moment. One of them will open with me, but we are still not certain who it will be," Ganguly said.

He said a decision would be made on the morning of the match.

Ganguly and Tendulkar have opened together in more than 100 one-day matches and have been one of the most successful opening pairs in the world for the last four years.

Khurasiya, 29, is a big-hitting batsman who is making a comeback into the team after nearly two years.

Yuvraj Singh missed a triangular series in Zimbabwe where India lost to West Indies in the final earlier this month after winning all four round-robin games.

That was India's seventh straight loss in a final of a one-day tournament and Ganguly said his team wanted to do better in Sri Lanka.

"We are playing well, winning almost 75 percent of our matches, but we're still losing important finals. We're still trying to figure out why," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor