Sehwag to lead in tour game

Virender Sehwag will lead the Indians in the three-day game against Australia 'A' beginning in Hobart tomorrow with the visitors keen to try out new combinations to prepare for the crucial Melbourne Test.

The Indians, fresh from their historic win in Adelaide, will rest three of their frontline batsmen-Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, but Sachin Tendulkar is likely to take the field to get some useful batting practice.

With the two opening batsmen not being able to get big scores in the first two matches, the performance of the Sadagoppan Ramesh will come under the scanner and the left-handed opener would be eager to prove his worth.

Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who is yet to play a match since arriving as reinforcement last week, will also be keen to impress the team management.

The match is quite significant from Australia's point of view as it would give the selectors the chance to have a close look at the performance of some of the fringe players- particularly seamers-for a place in the national side.

Australia are in dire straits after trailing the four-match series 0-1 and in desperate need of a pacer to bolster the injury-plagued bowling attack for the Boxing Day Test on December 26 in Melbourne.

The Aussie selectors are concentrating on youth and have ignored Greg Blewett and Michael Bevan for the Australia 'A' side.

Shaun Tait is the biggest punt the selectors are gambling upon in their selection puzzle as the bowler has pace, which prompted Test captain Steve Waugh to comment, "he's probably the quickest, along with Brett Lee".

Tait, a strapping fast bowler from South Australia, knows he would be asked to intimidate the talented batting line-up of the visitors with his pace, though it is quite different to the qualities of Glenn McGrath, a bowler he admires and a legend who now has been ruled out of the Test series due to injury.

"I'm not really a zone bowler that bores them out," said Tait "I'm more of a bowler trying to bowl as many wicket balls as I possibly can."

Tait clocks regularly in the 145-km/h region and has been given a "license" by his captain Michael Hussey to go hard at the Indians.

"I think it's good to have a license like that, I can concentrate on just bowling fast.

"They might not come out straight away how I want them to but there's always bound to be a good ball in there which is a wicket ball.

"Indians have faced fast bowling before and they can handle it but we'll have to see how it goes. You never know."

The two Australian gambles-Tait and his fellow quick Paul Rofeyare-were both a little surprised at their selection in the Australian 'A' squad.

Tait had returned from a groin injury that sidelined him for three weeks so he said he was "surprised" to be packed because "I thought my name might've been chucked down a couple of steps."

Rofeyare has been a consistent performer in his four seasons with South Australia and has taken 19 wickets at 23.32 this season.

Tait has taken his wickets at 35.5 but his raw pace has brought spectators to the ground.

Australian selectors are waking up to the fact their fast bowling brigade is not young anymore-Glenn McGrath is 34, Andy Bichel is 33, Jason Gillespie 28 and Brad Williams 29.

Joining Tait and Rofe are relatively experienced Damien Wright of Tasmania who has 21 wickets this season, and former Test batsman Matthew Nicholson, who has resurrected his career with a move to New South Wales from Western Australia.

Leg-spinner Cameron White is the third debutant for Australia 'A' that will be captained by Western Australian batsman Michael Hussey.

Some other members of the team are Queenslander Martin Love, who posted an unbeaten 300 last month, and Victorian Brad Hodge, who is averaging 115.8 this summer.

But for the contest to take place, weather has to clear up and the forecast is not encouraging. It has been drizzling relentlessly for the last two days in Hobart.

Teams:

Indians (from): Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sachin Tendulkar, Deep Dasgupta, Anil Kumble, Laxmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel.

Australia A: Michael Hussey (captain), Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Martin Love, Brad Hodge, Cameron White, Wade Seccombe, Matthew Nicholson, Damien Wright, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait.