The left handed batsmen has been rein ducted into the team after a gap of two years. He started his career in the late 80's but was dropped after a string of lackluster performances in the mid 90's. With double centuries in his first five matches he was a batting sensation along with Sachin Tendulkar. Unfortunately he didn't have Sachin's luck and was dropped after his dismal performances against the West Indies in 95. he was recalled for the 96 world cup but didn't do well so it was back to the pavilion for the stylish left hander. Lack of experience in the Indian ranks has again brought him into the selectors eyes. The man has wonderful batting talent and good batting technique to back it up with., but somehow the concentration is not there. On many an occasion he has been dismissed after doing the hard work and settling in, and I believe this has been the main reason for his downfall. He is truly a team man and is pretty lively on the field to so he has a good chance now to prove his worth on the international scene in the absence of Azaharuddin and Jadeja.
The bowling options for the team are also very limited, with only one strike bowler in the form of Kumble the team faces a huge task of restricting the opposition to a low total. Srinath's absence will be dearly felt and Parsad has not got the ability to the inspirational qualities in him which will make the others work hard. Agarkar and bhandari frankly do not have the talent to become stingy wicket taking bowlers. They might be able to pick up wickets but 60 to 70 runs in a spell is a bit to much for any side.
The responsibility of run scoring has again been put on the shoulders of Sachin, Dravid,and Ganguly who have not played much cricket in the last few months. Robin Singh will again be expected to save the day for the Indians in the weak middle order. Saba Karim has been picked to keep wickets for the team but his performance since his selection in place of Mongia has been disappointing . Fate has also been cruel to Karim as injuries on the field have forced him out of some competitions in recent times.
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