In a meeting that lasted a touch over three hours, the Indian selection committee countered the dilemma posed by injury to several key players by picking them all, but subject to a fitness test later this month. The 15-man team for the one-day triangular in South Africa includes VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath, all of whom were in some doubt due to injuries. However, the boldest decision was to omit wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe in favour of Deep Dasgupta, a 24-year-old from Kolkata, and the man who "will be groomed for the 2003 World Cup", according to Chandu Borde, the chairman of selectors. Dasgupta was highly recommended by Rodney Marsh, who is a consultant coach at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Shiv Sunder Das has been included in the squad not only as a back-up opener for Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and now Virender Sehwag, but also to get a feel of the conditions. "The boy is batting so well," said Borde, "that we thought it would be good chance for him to get a feel of the South African pitches and carry on his form in the Tests." He did mention, though, that only the team management would have a say in the final XI on tour, and Das may even be used in the middle order if they deem fit.

Srinath, who has been virtually absent from one-day cricket for the last two seasons, will be told that he must make himself available for all tournaments if he wants a place in the World Cup team. "John Wright has already had a word with him and we will also tell him that he cannot pick and choose his matches. He has to play one-day cricket when we need him to."

There will be a thorough fitness test for each of the 15 men before they leave for South Africa on September 24. The examination will be carried out by Dr Anant Joshi – not team physio Andrew Leipus – at Mumbai on either September 22 or 23.

Five stand-bys have also been short-listed but their names were not revealed. However, by saying that "Ajit Agarkar, Jacob Martin, Hemang Badani, Harvinder Singh, Sunil Joshi, Sarandeep Singh and Robin Singh senior were all considered," the selectors have given a fair indication of the men waiting in the wings.

The squad

Shiv Sunder Das, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sourav Ganguly (captain), VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Reetinder Sodhi, Deep Dasgupta (wicketkeeper), Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Venkatesh Prasad.

Rahul Bhattacharya is staff writer with Wisden.com India.

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