Sachin Tendulkar has been given a responsibility to lead the Indian Cricket team for the three day practice match against England Lions. Indian will play first Test Match against England from 19th of July. Indian Cricket team management don’t want to take a chance by playing Wall of Indian Cricket team Rahul Dravid before the start of first test match. However on Thursday moring Rahul Dravid do came out to practice in the nets and faces every Indian bowler including paceman Zaheer Khan as well as Saurav Ganguly with ease and his left leg also which suffere from minor strain didn’t bother him much. After given rest in four day match against Sussex which India came close to victory Sachin Tendulkar now back as Captaining the Indian team. A. Kumble and R.P. Singh is also given the rest and in place Zaheer Khan and ramesh Powar has been given chance. Chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar, who joined the team on Wednesday, kept a close watch on the nets. "We decided to omit Kumble also because we wanted to explore other options, wanted to give Ramesh Powar an opportunity too," said Chandu Borde, the cricket manager. "We wanted to see what the others had to offer." For India Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir will fight for final XI spot against England. With the classical knock in first inning against Sussex V.V.S Laxman is almost a certainty for Lord's. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is also struggling with his form so he needs some run under his belt before the start of first test. Andrew Strauss will lead them — he is battling bad form, which has seen him being dropped from the Test team. He has expressed his delight at the opportunity, and that's the adjective most others in his bunch would use to describe their state of mind. Owais Shah is one of them, as is Ravi Bopara, hoping to make his way back to national reckoning. Adil Rashid, a 19-year-old being talked of as a leg-spinner of great promise, is another young hopeful. India, thus, would not have much to fear from the team known as England A, though they have some fears, it would be their own chinks they'd wish to close. India: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose and Ramesh Powar. England Lions XI: Andrew Strauss (captain), Joe Denly, Owais Shah, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Tim Ambrose (WK), Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and Graham Onions. Labels: sachin Tendulkar Updates, Sachin will lead India against England Lions |
