Sehwag to lead Indians

Virender Sehwag will captain the Indians against Australia A in a three-day game beginning in Hobart on December 19.

Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly will be rested, while Sadagoppan Ramesh and Murali Kartik are almost certain to play. Kartik was summoned to Australia on the eve of the second Test, but was left out of the side in favour of Anil Kumble, who picked up five wickets in the first innings. This will be Kartik's first competitive game on the tour.

Sachin Tendulkar, with knocks of 0,1, and 37, is likely to use the outing to regain his batting touch.

Michael Hussey will lead Australia A, with two express bowlers at the forefront of the bowling attack. Shaun Tait and Paul Rofe have been included in the team, much to their surprise. But the selections were made keeping an eye on the future. Australia's Test attack has been ageing steadily, and the drought of new quick bowlers has the selectors worried. This was accentuated by India's domination of the under-strength bowling in Adelaide.

Steve Waugh has said of Tait, "He's probably the quickest, along with Brett Lee." Tait, a 145kph bowler, has been given full licence to go hard at the Indians. "I think it's good to have a licence like that, I can concentrate on just bowling fast," says Tait. "Indians have faced fast bowling before and they can handle it but we'll have to see how it goes. You never know."

The game will be played on a Bellerive Oval pitch that was found unsafe for play last season, forcing an inter-state match to be called off. The Tasmanian Cricket Association has quashed doubts about the condition of the wicket, saying it is fit for play. "The pitches we've had here this year so far have been excellent," said David Johnstone, their chief executive. "We have no fear of having any problems whatsoever and looking at it the other day, it looked excellent. It's in good shape."

Weather will play a vital part in the game; there has been a steady drizzle for two days, and the wind is expected to pick up speed tomorrow.

Australia A 1 Michael Hussey (capt), 2 Michael Clarke, 3 Chris Rogers, 4 Martin Love, 5 Brad Hodge, 6 Cameron White, 7 Wade Seccombe (wk), 8 Matthew Nicholson, 9 Damien Wright, 10 Paul Rofe, 11 Shaun Tait.

Indians (from): Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag (capt), Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sachin Tendulkar, Deep Dasgupta (wk), Anil Kumble, Laxmipathy Balaji, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Parthiv Patel (wk).