Zaheer ruled out of BD tie

Published July 21, 2004

COLOMBO, July 20: India's Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the Asia Cup Super League match against Bangladesh on Wednesday with a hamstring injury and may miss the rest of the tournament.

The left-arm quick, struggling with the problem since India's tour of Australia at the start of the year, tweaked a muscle in his left leg while fielding during the 12-run defeat against Sri Lanka on Sunday.

"He won't be fit for tomorrow's game," coach John Wright told reporters on Tuesday. "We will have to look at the whole situation regarding his fitness for the two remaining games in the tournament sometime later tomorrow or the day after.

"Zaheer was very upset. He had just got fit, bowled well in that first game and looked as good as I have seen him for 12 months. "He is having these continual injury situations which are generally in the leg region...it's tough on the player and we can't have it happening regularly."

Zaheer was declared fit for the tournament after missing two Tests apiece in Australia and Pakistan last season due to the injury. The famed Indian batting also failed to live up its reputation in the first two matches, with Rahul Dravid alone looking in good touch with a hundred and a half-century.

"We still have an opportunity," Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly said. "The points system is such that we start all over again and hence we will have the chance to make amends."

TEAMS (FROM):

INDIA: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel.

BANGLADESH: Habibul Bashar (captain), Javed Omar, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Khaled Mahmud, Tapash Baisya, Abdur Razzaq, Faisal Hossain, Manjural Islam Rana, Tareq Aziz.

Umpires: David Shepherd (England and Billy Doctrove (West Indies).

TV umpire: Gamini Silva (Sri Lanka).

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka). -Agencies

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