Srinath pays a heavy price

Javagal Srinath's international career looked to be over yesterday after India left the fast bowler off their list of "probables" for next month's ICC Trophy in Sri Lanka.

Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, hinted that Srinath was out of contention for next year's World Cup.

"The selectors have picked the players keeping in view the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, and all the players who did duty in the NatWest series have been retained after their good showing," he said.

Srinath quit Test cricket earlier this year and rejected pleas to return from Sourav Ganguly, who has retained the captaincy.

"The selectors decided to retain Ganguly as captain since he has been handling the team well, particularly in the one-dayers," Shah said. He added that because the current selectors' tenure ends next month, a decision to extend the captain's appointment beyond September would have to be taken by the new selection committee.

India have also included the uncapped pair Jai Prakash Yadav, of Railways, and Lakshmipathy Balaji, of Tamil Nadu, in their 20-player list. The final squad will be announced on 12 August.

Shoaib Akhtar has been left out of Pakistan's squad for a triangular Morocco Cup tournament due to injury, the Pakistan Cricket Board said yesterday.

Announcing a 15-man squad for the first international tournament to be held in Tangiers, a PCB Director, Chishty Mujahid, said Shoaib had leg problems "and wanted a rest".

"He has been allowed to skip the tournament after the board consulted its medical panel," he added. The all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and the off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq have been recalled by Pakistan after missing the one-day series against Australia in June because of county commitments in England.

The Morocco Cup runs from 12 to 21 August and Pakistan face South Africa and Sri Lanka, who have also named their squad, keeping faith with the players selected for the one-day series against Bangladesh that begins tomorrow.

INDIA (Probable squad, ICC Trophy, 12-29 Sept, Sri Lanka): S C Ganguly (capt), A Ratra (wkt), A B Agarkar, R S Dravid, M Kaif, Zaheer Khan, A Kumble, V V S Laxman, D Mongia, A Nehra, V Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Y Singh, S R Tendulkar, T Yohannan, S B Bangar, P H Patel (wkt), J P Yadav, L Balaji, M Kartik.