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MUMBAI, March 17: England coach Duncan Fletcher insists the absence of Steve Harmison will not distract the team from focusing on the immediate issue of winning the third and final Test against India to square the series.
“Sometimes these things happen,” Fletcher said on Friday. “We have lost experienced players before and we just have to live with it.”
Strike bowler Harmison was ruled out of the third Test starting on Saturday with a bone stress injury in his right shin.
The Durham paceman sustained the injury during the second Test in Mohali, which the tourists lost by nine wickets to fall 1-0 behind in the series.
Harmison is the latest addition to the England’s injury list after captain Michael Vaughan and paceman Simon Jones returned home due to respective knee and ankle problems.
Fletcher said England would probably go into the decider with five specialist bowlers to force a victory, though the combination had yet to be decided.
Teams (from):
INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Vangipurappu Laxman, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Rudra Pratap Singh.
ENGLAND: Andrew Flintoff (captain), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Ian Blackwell, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Shaun Udal.
Umpires: Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel (both Australia).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—Agencies
