Selection of probables for ICC Champions Trophy tomorrow

Bangalore, Aug 8 (UNI) Will Former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly bounce back into the Indian team, will ace leggie Anil Kumble, doing magic with the ball in the English County Surrey, find a place in the one-day team, are some of the questions making the rounds as selectors sit here tomorrow to pick the probables for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in India in October-November.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Selection Committee Chairman Kiran More arrived in the city two days ago to watch the Sri Lanka-bound team hone its skills before for the tri series commencing on August 14 with the third team being South Africa.

The list of probables for the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held between October seven and November five, should be submitted to the ICC before August 10.

Ganguly had a bad English season, while in contrast Kumble played a pivotal role so far in Surrey's wins. His performance could not be missed out by the selectors.

However, More declined to come out with the specific number of probables to be picked. He said the committee would decide on the number of probables on the day of the selection. It could be either 22 or 30 and later pruned to a 15-member squad.

With a rich crop of players knocking at the doors for an entry into the national team, it would be a tough task for selectors to identify the probables.

Besides the Sri Lanka-bound team, others in the reckoning included Andhra star batsman Venugopal Rao, Karnataka opener Robin Uthappa, who made 83 in his debut against West Indies, medium pacers Lakshmipathy Balaji, V R V Singh, Asish Nehra and Zaheer Khan.

Balaji had been off the scene for more than a year due to back ache and was now awaiting a green signal from team Physio John Gloster.

Also in consideration was Murali Kartick who had recovered from shoulder injury. Both Balaji and Kartick had joined the ongoing 'Cricket Skill' camp on a direction from the Board. V R V Singh and V V S Laxman were also in the camp though they did not get a berth in the team for the tri-series.

Coach Greg Chappell had indicated that the selectors had a wide choice to pick from. Even established players now had to strive to keep their place as they would not be an automatic choice with a large number of promising youngsters staking claim, he added.

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