Asia Cup Cricket

Well Sachin miss Asia Cup?

Injury Could force Master-Blaster To Skip The Four-Nation Meet; May Be Back For Tests

New Delhi:  Even before the selectors sat down on Monday to pick the Indian squad for the Asia Cup Sri Lanka, a shadow has been cast over the team's fortunes with the news that Sachin Tendulkar is likely to sit out of the One day tournament 'due to injury'. While sources in the nature of his injury, sources said that the master batsman may be available for the Test series against Sri Lanka which will follow the Asia Cup.

          Another theory doing the rounds was that Tendulkar wanted to rest a little while more before returning to the field but even this could not be ascertained.

          Interestingly, till late Sunday evening, the national selectors had no idea about Tendulkar's 'injury' and hence were not in a position to comment on it. "we've not been told anything about Tendulkar. As far as we are concerned, he is fit and ready to play," a selector told TOI.

       If Tendulkar is not there in the squad, then it would be a huge blow to the team which is already looking down the barrel after disastrous showings in the T20 World Cup and the Zimbabwe tri-series.

       Tendulkar, who has been in pristine form in the last year or so, will greatly bolster the team with his presence. As it is, India have looked especially shaky at the top of the batting order in recent times and Tendulkar as opener is the perfect panacea for the ills.

       However, when the selectors meet here in the Capital on Monday afternoon to shortlist the team, they may have to look for a credible alternative which is already in short supply.

 Shewag ready for the show: One good news for the selectors was that Virender Sehwag is fit. The other batsmen expected to make the cut are Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. However, there is pressure on Yuvraj Singh who has been dogged by injury and poor form as well as Yusuf Pathan. Ravindra Jadeja is likely to retain the all rounder's slot. The main challenge for the selectors will be to pick a potent pace attack. {raveen Kumar has recovered from a side strain

       While Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra are expected to be back to lead the pace department, Praveen Kumar, who has recovered from a side strain, is also in contention along with Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. Among spinners, while Harbhajan Singh is the first choice, Pragyan Ojha, Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra are also in contention with Ojha's claim looking to be the strongest one.