Kumble's leadership to be in the spotlight

Leg spinner Anil Kumble's leadership skills would be under the scanner as the Hero Honda N K P Salve Trophy gets underway in Bangalore on Thursday sans three stars including Sachin Tendulkar.

The absence of Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Javagal Srinath has robbed the tournament of some sheen. The event will feature India Seniors, India A and India B in a round-robin format with the top teams facing off in the final on Sunday.

But the imminent selection of the team for the ODIs against England is expected to have competitive juices flowing among the fringe players in the limited overs day-night tournament, with matches starting daily at 1430 pm IST.

Dravid has also pulled out of the ODIs against England to undergo treatment for his shoulder discomfort, while Tendulkar has been given a break and Srinath is on the rest-list.

Selection Committee Chairman Chandu Borde's words after the Test series that Kumble's leadership would be watched in the Tournament have focused attention on the spin wizard, who is on a high after becoming the first Indian spinner to break into the 300 wickets club.

Sourav Ganguly is leading India Seniors but it's doubtful whether he will play all the matches. V V S Laxman will pilot India A in the absence of Dravid, while Kumble will be at the helm of affairs for India B.

Ganguly, who had a lean patch as a batsman in the recent Test series against England, would be looking to regain form.

Meanwhile, India Seniors team would have only 12 players as the selectors have decided against picking a replacement for Laxman who will lead the 'A' team.

The teams:
India Seniors: Sourav Ganguly (Capt), S S Das, Virender Sehwag, Hemang Badani, Sanjay Bangar, Deep Dasgupta (wicket- keeper), Harbhajan Singh, Sunil Joshi, Tinu Yohannan, Iqbal Siddique, Debashis Mohanty and Jacob Martin.

India A: V V S Laxman (Capt), Connor Williams, Daniel Manohar, Rohan Gavaskar, Sangram Singh, Yuveraj Singh, Ajay Ratra (wicket-keeper), Reetinder Sodhi, Murali Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sarandeep Singh and Sitanshu Kotak.

India B: Anil Kumble (Capt), Mohammed Kaif, S Sriram, Dinesh Mongia, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Arjun Yadav, Z Zufari, Vijay Bharadwaj, Pankaj Dharmani (wicket-keeper), Ashish Nehra, S Pandey, Amit Bhandari and Devendra Bundela.

The schedule:
Jan 10: India Seniors vs India A
Jan 11: India Seniors vs India B
Jan 12: India A vs India B

Mail Cricket Editor