IndiaPost.com - Tendulkar opts out of Afro-Asia Cup; Zaheer, Ganguly in

KUALA LUMPUR: Sachin Tendulkar has made way for Sourav Ganguly while Zaheer Khan was included as the sixth Indian in the revised 14-member one-day Asia cricket team for the Afro-Asian Cup beginning in Bangalore on June 6.

Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando and Mashrafe Mortaza of Bangladesh were the other two new faces in the squad after Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar and Sri Lankan pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Lasitha Malinga made themselves unavailable for the three-match series. Selectors of the second Afro-Asia Cup - ASM Farooque, Chetan Chauhan, Mohsin Khan and Lalith Kaluperuma -- named the revised squad after the four cricketers made themselves unavailable for the series.

"Following the unavailability of some players named in the original squads on May 11, the selectors have named their final squads for the three ODI matches in Bangalore and Chennai on June 6, 9 and 10 and the Twenty20 match on June 5," a statement said today. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh are the other four Indians who were named in the original squad announced earlier this month.

The 11-member squad for the Afro-Asia Twenty20 tournament also saw one change as S Sreesanth replaced Munaf Patel, who was called back from Bangladesh series due to lower back pain. Sreesanth, who was also earlier recalled from Bangladesh owing to a calf muscle injury during the ODIs, has recovered to make a come back to the international scene.