It is that time of the year again, when there is a brief lull in India's international itinerary and the Challenger Trophy takes place. This year's edition will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore from the 10th to the 13th of January. As has been the format, three teams will participate - India Seniors, led by Sourav Ganguly, India 'A' under Rahul Dravid, and India 'B' skippered by Anil Kumble. The limited-overs fest loses some of its gloss, with Sachin Tendulkar and Javagal Srinath not taking part; the pair will enjoy a well-deserved rest. There is some doubt too about Dravid, who has been troubled by a shoulder injury.

The India Seniors side boasts a strong line-up, with 10 of the 13 members coming from the squad that took on England in the recent three-Test series. Tamil Nadu batsman Hemang Badani makes a return, as do Sunil Joshi and Debashish Mohanty.

Following India's return from South Africa, the fast bowling department was revamped, with Iqbal Siddiqui, Tinu Yohannan and Sanjay Bangar being drafted into the side. The Challenger Trophy gives the bowlers who were dropped - Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra - a chance to force their way back into the team. The chairman of selectors, Chandu Borde, was present at Bangalore and fielded a host of questions. As ever, there was disagreement on various selections and omissions. As ever, Borde said that the selectors "have an open mind" towards all players, and no one was permanently ruled out of selection. He further stressed on the need to plan for the 2003 World Cup, thereby almost ruling out the chances of a comeback for either Robin Singh or Nayan Mongia.

Borde further added, "The form of Ganguly is worrying the selectors. But this kind of bad patch happens to all cricketers. It is just that Ganguly is going through a prolonged bad patch. We all know he is a talented batsman and will bounce back soon."

The squads:

India Seniors: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sunder Das, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Hemang Badani, Sanjay Bangar, Deep Dasgupta, Harbhajan Singh, Sunil Joshi, Tinu Yohannan, Iqbal Siddiqui, Debashish Mohanty, Jacob Martin

India 'A': Rahul Dravid (captain), Connor Williams, Daniel Manohar, Rohan Gavaskar, Sangram Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Ajay Ratra, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sarandeep Singh, Sitanshu Kotak.

India 'B': Anil Kumble (captain), Mohammad Kaif, Sridharan Sriram, Dinesh Mongia, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Arjun Yadav, Zakaria Zuffri, Vijay Bharadwaj, Pankaj Dharmani, Ashish Nehra, Sanjay Pandey, Amit Bhandari, Devendra Bundela

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