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Cricket
M.S.K. Prasad back in favour
MUMBAI, FEB. 9. The National selectors threw up a surprise or two, while picking the Board President's XI team for Zimbabwe's tour opener to be played at Vijayawada from February 15 to 17. They picked Andhra wicket- keeper M.S.K. Prasad, after a lengthy argument, and Haryana's young leg spinner, Amit Mishra at the BCCI office here on Saturday.
Chairman of selectors Chandu Borde was convincing in the least, while explaining Prasad and Mishra's selection. ``We heard that Prasad is doing well again. We have seen Deep Dasgupta and Ratra. We want to have a look at Prasad again. I have not seen leg spinner Mishra. But I am told he is a promising cricketerr,'' said Borde. Prasad's last match for India was against Australia in the third and final Test in Sydney 24 months ago.
With India scheduled to tour West Indies and England between April and September, Haryana's Ratra, who played in the LG Cup one-day series against England, ought to have been a straight-forward selection once it became clear that Bengal's Dasgupta would be busy in the Ranji Trophy semifinal.
With the dates of the Ranji Trophy semifinals clashing with the three-day game, the committee did not pick any player from Baroda, Railways and Bengal and made an exception in choosing Punjab off-spinner Sarandeep Singh.
The team has three openers - Delhi's Gautam Gambhir, Rajasthan's Gagan Khoda and Mumbai's Wasim Jaffer. The seamers are Kerala's Tinu Yohanan, Delhi's Ashish Nehra and Tamil Nadu's L. Balaji. ``Dravid has told the Board that he has fully recovered from a shoulder injury and hence he has been made the captain,'' said Borde.
The team: Rahul Dravid (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Gagan Khoda, Gautam Gambhir, Abhijit Kale, Venugopala Rao, Pravranjan Mullick, Sitanshu Kotak, L. Balaji, Ashish Nehra, Tinu Yohanan, Sarandeep Singh, Amit Mishra and M. S. K. Prasad.
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