Chance for fringe and dropped players to prove merit: Rajput

Chennai, Sep 30 (UNI) Coach Lalchand Rajput of India Reds who will be taking on India Blues in the opening match of the Challenger trophy cricket championship at the M A Chidambaram said it was good to have a tournament of this nature before the Champions trophy.

''It will help the fringe players and those dropped from the squad like Saurav Ganguly and Sreeshanth omitted from the Champions trophy squad,'' the former India batsman said talking to newsmen.

Asked if he thought that Saurav still had a chance of staging a comeback, Rajput said ''yes, he still has a lot of fire in his belly as I learnt when I spoke to him just now.'' He said his India Reds team was a good combination of a few seniors and India A players.

''It's a challenge as the name of the tournament itself suggests, for younger talents to tell the selectors that they are ready for international cricket,'' Rajput pointed out.

The former Rajasthan batsman said his team would be looking to emerge the victor. ''We also have young upcoming talents like Piyush Chawla.'' Meanwhile, two of India Blues players Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh also had a light work out at the nets even as the other players are reaching here seperately. While Sachin Tendulkar, who is to sit out of the first match, was scheduled to arrive around 1900 hrs, skipper Rahul Dravid was to arrive after 2000 hrs.

UNI VV DH KP2029