da imperador bet： The touring English team will take on an Indian Board President’s XI, ina three-day match at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad,starting on Thursday
Santhosh S21-Nov-2001The touring English team will take on an Indian Board President’s XI, ina three-day match at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad,starting on Thursday.Most of the top English batsmen have run into some good form in theirlast game, played in Mumbai. Two batsmen who didn’t have a good gameagainst Mumbai Cricket Association Board President’s XI are Mark Butcherand Michael Vaughan and they would be hoping to use this match to regaintheir touch.The English squad had a net session in the morning. They have though notgiven any clue about the composition of their final eleven. The latestaddition to the squad, Andrew Flintoff, has not arrived in Hyderabad andlooks set to play only in the match against India ‘A’ at Jaipur. Englandwill possibly play wicketkeeper Warren Hegg ahead of James Foster.The pitch at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium looks to be a sleepingbeauty. The young fast bowler from Kerala, Tinu Yohannan lamented,”There is not even a blade of grass on this track.” Meanwhile, theweather here is crisp and slightly warm, nothing like the sultryconditions one encounters in the coastal cities like Mumbai and Chennai.Madan Lal, the Manager of the Board President’s XI, who incidentally isalso a national selector, was at the nets with his boys in theafternoon. He had a close look at Rohan Gavaskar and Murali Kartik amongothers. Speaking to , Madan Lal said that the finaleleven had been more or less decided, and Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathanand RV Dhruv will miss out. The team is still awaiting the arrival ofoff-spinner Sarandeep Singh and the medium-pacer from Jammu and Kashmir,Surendra Singh.Tinu Yohannan was working up impressive pace in the nets; the tall andlean fast bowler has caught the attention of Madan Lal, a former Indiafast bowler himself. Madan Lal, as a matter of fact , shared ten secondinnings wickets with Kapil Dev against Keith Fletcher’s England in theMumbai Test and took India to a Test Victory, some 19 years ago.Madan Lal was of the opinion that none of the players are on trial inHyderabad, “Sarandeep Singh has been amongst wickets this season and hisform has been phenomenal, there is a good chance that he will be thethird spinner in the Indian Test team against England.”The former India coach was of the opinion that Rohan Gavaskar is a verygood batsman and it is a matter of time before he starts scoring heavilyand is in contention for a place in the national squad. Sridharan Sriramwho had a wonderful time with the bat against a visiting Sri Lankan XIin the MJ Gopalan Trophy will also try to press hard for the opener’sslot in the national side. Madan Lal says, “The opening position and anextra spin bowler’s slot has been vacant in the national side for quitea while now, it is for the players to grab the opportunity.”Pankaj Dharmani and Murali Kartik will have to prove their mettleagainst the visitors to be in national reckoning, given the competitionfor positions in the national squad.The controversy surrounding the disciplinary action taken against sixIndian players in South Africa has evoked strong emotions in this sportloving city too.Incidentally, Mike Denness the ICC match referee who is caught in theeye of the storm in South Africa, played in a three-day match againstIndian Board Pesident’s XI in 1972 (Dec 2-4) at Lal Bahadur ShastriStadium in Hyderabad. In those days, the top players in the countryrepresented the Board President’s XI and a 22-year-old Sunil ManoharGavaskar scored 86 to take Board President’s XI to 317/5 decl. In reply,the England XI made 321/7 declared, Denness making a sparkling 95 and DLAmiss making 81 against a bowling attack that comprised of Abid Ali(2/74) and EAS Prasanna (3/109).England (from): Nasser Hussain (capt), Usman Afzaal, Martyn Ball, MarkButcher, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan, MarkRamprakash, Richard Dawson, James Foster, Ashley Giles, Warren Hegg,Richard Johnson, Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond, Craig White.Board President’s XI (from): Jacob Martin (capt), Irfan Pathan, RakeshPatel, Wasim Jaffer, Sridharan Sriram, Dinesh Mongia, Pankaj Dharmani,Sanjay Bangar, Murali Kartik, Rohan Gavaskar, Tinu Yohannan, SharandeepSingh, Surender Singh.