Date:21/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/21/stories/2008032152112100.htm

Sport - Cricket

Harbhajan and Dhoni to test today

BANGALORE: M.S. Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh will undergo fitness tests at the National Cricket Academy here on Friday.

According to former physio John Gloster’s report to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Dhoni has a severe sprain on the fourth finger of his right hand, while Harbhajan is nursing a left hamstring injury.

Harbhajan was expected to attend the tests last Sunday but failed to turn up.

The BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, while announcing the Indian Test squad here on Monday, said that Dhoni and Harbhajan needed to clear their fitness tests in order to play against South Africa. Dinesh Karthik and Piyush Chawla have been drafted in as replacements. Piyush, however, is already in the squad as Murali Kartik injured his left ankle.

VRV at NCA

Meanwhile, fast bowler V.R.V. Singh is busy training at the NCA. V.R.V. Singh, who replaced the injured Zaheer Khan in India’s Test squad during the recent Australian tour, is one of the few players who had no adverse fitness reports in Gloster’s dossier on player injuries.

The Punjab seamer has been at the academy since Sunday and will be here for a couple of days more. — Principal Correspondent