CALCUTTA, 29 December 2003 — India suffered a setback yesterday when frontline paceman Zaheer Khan was ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing Test series in Australia as well as an upcoming triangular tournament.
“Zaheer is nursing an injury to his left hamstring and has been advised not to play for at least four to six weeks,” cricket board secretary S.K. Nair announced on Sunday.
“Thus, we did not consider him for the tri-series,” said Nair, who announced a 16-member side for the one-day tri-series, which will also feature Zimbabwe.
Zaheer suffered the injury during the ongoing third Test at Melbourne and is not expected to take further part in the series.
The one-day team was decided after the selectors held a tele-conference with the team management in Australia.
In the absence of Zaheer, left-armers Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan and Laxmipathy Balaji will be the pacers apart from all-rounders Ajit Agarkar and Sanjay Bangar. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik would be the specialist spinners in the absence of injured off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
One-day specialists Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif will join the players already in Australia along with left-hand batsman Hemang Badani, all of whom played in a tri-series in India last month.
