Indians take on Zimbabwe A in practice game

The Indian touring team get into the one-day groove, ahead of the upcoming triangular series, with a practice game against Zimbabwe A at the Sunrise Club in Harare on Friday.

India's one-day specialists Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Dinesh Mongia Virender Sehwag and Harvinder Singh, who joined the rest of the side on Wednesday, would use this opportunity to stake a claim for a berth in the one-day squad.

The match would also help the Indian batsmen, who disappointed by their poor performance in the second and final Test at Harare, gain confidence on the fast and bouncy pitches here.

The Indians would be relieved somewhat by the news that Andrew Flower has been ruled out of the entire triangular series with a broken right thumb. He was hurt while collecting the first ball Andy Blignaut sent down on the fourth morning of the second Test which Indian captain Sourav Ganguly let go outside the off-stump.

Flower's absence will rob the series of much glamour since it was expected that he, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara would provide a three-way contest for batting honours in the series.

In the absence of the gifted wicketkeeper-batsman, Tatind Taibu is set to make his international debut for Zimbabwe and he should have a useful practice game against the visitors.

Paul Strang, the leg-spinner and utility batsman, is in the Zimbabwe A team for Friday's game and after being ignored for the Test series, will be keen to make an impression on the selectors. Also in the reckoning would be Bryan Strang, a left-arm medium-pacer.

The Indians, meanwhile, had a practice session and a work-out in the gym today.

Ganguly left with Sodhi and team's physio Andrew Leipus for the CFX Academy ground early this morning for the nets. The rest of the team followed them along with coach John Wright two hours later and the squad had practice right in the middle of the ground, on the wickets at the square.

Tendulkar, who is taking it easy and does not want to strain his hamstring, had a few knocks in the middle.

Seamer Ashish Nehra, who has a thigh strain, kept doing specific exercises as prescribed by physio Andrew Leipus. Nehra has a crick in the neck, Leipus said, but there is little danger of him missing any matches in the one-day series.

The teams:

Zimbabwe A: Paul Strang, Gary Brent, Hamilton Masakdza, Stuart Matekendra, David Mutendera, Gavin Rennie, Barney Rogers, Bryan Strang, Tatiend Taibu, Dirk Viljoen and Craig Wishart.

Indians (from): Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Sameer Dighe, Ashish Nehra, Harvinder Singh and Zaheer Khan.