Tendulkar had sprained his right ankle while bowling in the nets yesterday while Harbhajan Singh developed “some problem” in his bowling hand, team officials said. To add to their woes, all-rounder Sanjay Bangar has not recovered from an injury he sustained in the second Test.

With medium-pacer Rakesh Patel, one of the four players — along with Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and Yuvraj Singh — called for the one-day series, yet to join the team, the Indians are struggling to put forth an eleven to take on a pumped up New Zealand which is keen to keep the tourists down in the one-dayers too with their hostile bowling.

The 12 able-bodied men available for tomorrow’s game include all the four medium pacers — Ajit Agarkar, Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra — and wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. According to all available indications, Patel would be asked to make his one-day debut considering the thin batting line-up India are left with.

Despite India’s woeful batting display in the Test series, the national selectors paid no heed to the crying need for an additional batsman in the one-day squad and the result is that there are not enough batsmen in the side for tomorrow’s game.

Even after the news of the injury of the three players, there is no second thought being given to hold on to at least a couple of cricketers who are returning home tomorrow after the Test series.

Shiv Sunder Das, Murali Kartik, Tinu Yohannan and Ajay Ratra are due to return home tomorrow and at least Das and Kartik could have been asked to stay back.

With Patel almost a certainty for tomorrow’s game, the diminutive 17-year-old will most likely do the duties behind the wickets relieving Rahul Dravid of the extra responsibility that he has been entrusted with in the one-dayers.

Virender Sehwag and skipper Saurav Ganguly have looked totally out of sorts on the New Zealand wickets in the Test matches while one-day stars Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif are yet to get a taste of the pitches in this country.

As such, India’s batting is precariously placed and have a herculean task ahead of them in putting up a decent total on the board.

The injury woes and the consequent difficulty in picking up the team has almost made the issue of pitches irrelevant for the Indian team. Though the pitches are widely expected to be better than those seen in the Test matches, New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming has already said that there would not be much difference as far as pace and bounce was concerned.

Tomorrow’s match is being played on a drop-in pitch which is said to be consistent in pace and very helpful to the faster bowlers.

New Zealand, on the other hand, are much better organised and well prepared to carry their dominance into the seven- match one-day series.

So clear are they about their strategy that they have decided to leave out paceman Daryl Tuffey — man of the series in Tests with 14 wickets at an average of 8.7 — for tomorrow’s game. Tuffey will yield his place to Kyle Mills who is quicker and is expected to make better use of a bouncy portable pitch at Eden Park.

New Zealand first came up with the idea four years ago in order to make the most of dual purpose grounds. The portable pitch is grown in a special tray off-site and lifted by crane onto the playing area where it replaces a tray of normal playing surface turf.

New Zealand will thus go into the game with a battery of fast bowlers — Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock — and have couple of new names to boost up their frail batting.

Teams (from): India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Rakesh Patel.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Mathew Sinclair, Craig McMillan, Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Paul Hitchcock.

Das, who was to return home tomorrow with three others after the completion of the Test series, is not in the 16- member one-day squad which is to play seven matches against the Kiwis.

But following injury-forced absence of Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Sanjay Bangar, the team management requested the cricket board to retain Das and the BCCI agreed to it, team manager Nathu Ram Choudhary said.

The long list of injuries had left the Indian team struggling to put forth an eleven to face New Zealand in tomorrow’s match as one of the four players being flown in for the one-dayers, medium-pacer Rakesh Patel, was yet to join the team and was expected only hours before the game.

That left the team management with only 12 players which included five bowlers - four medium-pacers and a spinner — of whom only one could have been left out. Even Mohammad Kaif was suffering from a bruised right toe though his injury was not serious enough to prevent him from taking the field.

The situation was so dire that Parthiv Patel was almost certain to make his debut tomorrow despite the team’s policy of using Rahul Dravid as a wicketkeeper in order to accommodate an extra batsman in the side.

Meanwhile, confusion abounded over the injury of off- spinner Harbhajan Singh with conflicting statements emerging from different quarters of the team management.

Mr Choudhary had told PTI that Harbhajan Singh was not fit to play tomorrow’s game because of a niggle in his bowling arm. But team physio Andrew Leipus told a reporter of a national daily that Harbhajan was being rested as a “tactical decision”.

When confronted with this statement, Mr Choudhary stood his ground and maintained that Harbhajan was indeed not fit to play tomorrow.

“The team needs an Indian coach and there is no point why we should continue to persist with John Wright despite the debacle the country faced during the recently concluded Test series against his country, which India lost 0-2,” Vengsarkar told UNI here.

When asked whether he was ready to be the next coach, Vengsarkar was quick to reply that he was “very much willing and available” for the top job. “Though it’s up to the selectors to decide but I have kept all options open...I am training the under-19 Indian team and know what it means to be Indian coach,” he added.

Vengsarkar, who was a member of the World Cup winning team in 1983, said India was not performing well outside the subcontinent and a foreign coach was no solution to the present failures. “We need an Indian coach who knows the game very well and has led the team from the front,” he noted.

The former captain said India did not have a realistic chance of winning the World Cup as the pitch and conditions in South Africa would cause a lot of problems to the Indian batsmen. “I am not writing off India’s chances but the way they have performed in the recent series, it will need something extraordinary for them to excel in South Africa,” he added.

Vengsarkar felt that the team needed a few genuine allrounders and not “bits and pieces” players who were unable to perform at the highest level.

The special general meeting of the board, which deliberated on the contentious issue for nearly four hours here, also decided to select the final squad of 15 players for the World Cup by the December 31 deadline while empowering president Jagmohan Dalmiya to take any further action in the matter.

“The board felt it was necessary to ascertain whether the rights given to the World Cup sponsors under the sponsorship agreements were in consonance with the decisions of the ICC executive board”, Mr Dalmiya told newsmen after the meeting.

“If excessive rights were granted to the sponsors then BCCI, as a stakeholder, should not be called upon to suffer financial losses,” he said.

When reminded of the criticism of this stand of the BCCI by ICC president Malcolm Gray a couple of days ago, Mr Dalmiya said, “These issues should not be brushed aside on the pretext of being ‘outdated’ and ‘irrelevant’. Rather it should face scrutiny”.

The board members also issued a threat to the Indian sponsors of the World Cup asking them to “grant dispensations” to Indian cricketers so that they can participate in the cup and if, “they did not look after the larger interest of the country and its cricket then BCCI should review its commercial relations with them in future”.

“These sponsors and partners should rise to the occasion by foregoing their pecuniary considerations in preference to the larger interest of the country and cricket,” Mr Dalmiya said.

He said if sponsors did not look after the interests of cricketers, the BCCI would review its commercial relations with them in future.

A shoulder injury to Warne leaves a void at first slip and at the top of the lower order in the batting line-up.

While skipper Steve Waugh has a replacement in leg-spin bowler Stuart MacGill, an injury to batsman Darren Lehmann has compounded Australia’s problems before the fourth Test starting tomorrow at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Lehmann was today ruled out of the Test due to an infection in his right leg. Rookie Martin Love will replace Lehmann in the batting line-up and stand in for Warne at first slip.

“We need to find a new first slip,” said Waugh. “We rearranged the cordon after Mark’s (Waugh) departure. It’s a significant event because Melbourne generally gets a lot of catches in the slips.”

Waugh warned England not to under-estimate the threat of MacGill and described him as one the best leg-spinners in the game.

Warne suffered a partial tear in his right shoulder during a limited-overs match against England and will be sidelined for between four and six weeks.

“His presence here in Melbourne is important with the crowd that gets right behind him and (that) tends to lift the side,” Waugh said of his former vice-captain.

A sellout crowd of 70,000 was expected to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which has a reduced capacity due to redevelopment work.

“From an opposition point of view they’ll be more relaxed because Warney has got this aura about him,” Waugh said. “And when that’s missing the opposition will sense that a bit as well.”

Love was an automatic replacement for Lehmann after scoring a season-high 781 first-class runs at an average of 130.16, including two double centuries against England for Queensland and Australia A.

Waugh described the 28-year-old Love as a quality player with an all-around game, who could bat at No 6 on debut.

“He has a very good temperament, ideally suited for Test match cricket,” Waugh said. “He’ll command automatic respect although he’s playing his first Test match.”

England skipper Nasser Hussain said although Australia had already clinched the Ashes with consecutive wins in the first three games, there is plenty of tough cricket to be played in the last two Tests.

“Just because you’ve lost or won the series, it doesn’t mean the next Test match is either more or less important,” Hussain said. “The Boxing Day Test match is special.

“As a youngster you always want to play against Australia at Melbourne on Boxing Day and the boys will have to lift themselves for that.”

Teams (from):
Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Martin Love, Adam Gilchrist (wicketkeeper), Stuart MacGill, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee or Andy Bichel.

“I’m not after fairy tales,” the 37-year-old Australian captain said on the eve of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“It doesn’t really matter whether someone claps you in the fifth Test or whether they clap you later on. “I feel so much goodwill out there and I appreciate that. An extra couple of claps in Sydney is not going to make any difference. “It’s not going to change the way people feel.”

Waugh’s decision means fans who are at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the final Test from January 2 won’t know whether they are seeing him play for the last time.

He wants to play out the series and then decide in his own good time whether he will quit or soldier on.

Waugh is one of the great Test match cricketers. The 154- Test campaigner is 160 runs away from becoming only the third batsman to score more than 10,000 runs in Tests, joining compatriot Allan Border (11,174) and India’s Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).

He has found it difficult to amass runs in a prodigious- scoring Australian batting order which has only batted for three and a half innings out of a possible six in this one-sided series.

Without runs in Sydney or Melbourne, he runs the real risk of being sacked for Australia’s tour of the West Indies in April.

“I just want to go out there and play my cricket,” he said today. “It can become too emotional if you make a decision beforehand... it can affect the way you’re going to play. “I’m going to sit down and have a look at it after Sydney.”

Waugh recalled a comment from former Test fast bowler Craig Rackemann, who said years ago: “I never announced when I was going to start, so why should I announce when I retire?”

“I think that’s a pretty good way to look at it,” said Waugh. “Life will go on, the team will survive. It’s got to end at some stage.”

If Randhawa became the first Indian winner of the Order of Merit title in the eight-year history of the Asian PGA circuit, Atwal won the Singapore Masters in his first year as a regular on the European PGA Tour — by no way any mean achievement.

The presence of Indian golfers continued to be felt in international arena with Jeev Milkha Singh, who did not particularly have a great season, becoming the first Indian to qualify for the US Open and also earning a right to play on the prestigious USPGA’s Nationwide Tour.

He did miss the chance to earn a PGA Tour card but the fact that he managed to survive all the four days of the gruelling Q-School by making the cut was creditable enough.

If the pros had their days, the amateurs too were not to be left behind and the icing on the cake came from Shiv Kapoor who fetched the country its first-ever gold in Asian Games.

As the international corridors remained abuzz with the achievements of the Indians who till a couple of years from now seemed to be content with their also-ran status, the domestic circuit too had its share of flutters.

‘Mr Consistent’ Mukesh Kumar won eight titles in his 11 appearances on the Hero Honda Tour while finishing runner-up thrice ensuring he left an indelible mark on Indian PGA history.

The affable Mukesh deservedly won the Champion Golfer of the Year award and with one event remaining in the 2001-2002 season, the Mhow golfer has already accumulated 17.1 lakh.

Others to make a mark in the domestic scenario included Digvijay Singh and Ashok Kumar. Digvijay Singh finished third in the Indian Open (Asian PGA event) besides winning the season-opening Royal Springs Open in Kashmir.

Ashok Kumar had a number of top ten finishes but finally managed a title triumph in Noida Open and looked all set to qualify for the Asian PGA in 2003.

Harmeet Kahlon showed brilliance in patches winning the Hero Honda Masters while Arjun Singh performed a shade better — finishing tied second in the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia, an Asian PGA Tour event and carding a nine-stroke victory in the Honda-Siel PGA championship.

Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharjee, reassured by the recovery of injured players barring defender Satish Bharti and Baichung Bhutia, today said “we are desperate to win. We have to continue our winning spree to remain in the fray”. The green and maroon brigade, which limped in early home matches, has so far notched up 12 points from seven outings and is struggling to defend the title they won last season.

Bhattacharjee, looking for “three points at any cost” from the Tollygunge match, would put George Ekkeh and Brazilian Jose Barreto upfront to demolish the rival defence.

He, however, was cautious about Tollygunge’s “tradition of playing well particularly against Mohun Bagan” and would keep vigil on their youngster upfront Ashim Biswas and Nigerian Abolanle Akeem. Tollygunge, on the other hand, would largely depend on sharp counter-attacks to penetrate the Bagan citadel.

“We will wait for opportunities and try to strike from fast counter-attacks,” Tollygunge coach Aloke Mukherjee said. The Tollygunge defence would spend a tough time thwarting Bagan attacks as both their strikers are in good form. Ekkeh even scored a hat-trick against HAL.