SPORTS EDGE

Unfit Malik sits out as India bat
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:18 GMT

Pakistan suffered a major blow as their captain Shoaib Malik was ruled unfit for their crucial Asia Cup Super League match against India, who won the toss and opted to bat here on Wednesday. Malik, who suffered dehydration during Pakistan's 64-run defeat against Sri Lanka on Sunday, failed a fitness test minutes before the start of the match at National Stadium. Vice-captain Misbah-ul Haq leads the side in place of Malik. Pakistan, who need to win the match to stay in the competition, made three changes, also dropping leg-spinning allrounder Mansoor Amjad and paceman Wahab Riaz from the team that played Sri Lanka. Opener Nasir Jamshed and paceman Abdur Rauf were included, as was 30-year-old off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, making his one-day debut. India, who beat Bangladesh on Saturday and have four points, made as many as four changes. They left out Pragyan Ojha, Manpreet Gony, Rudra Pratap Singh and Robin Uthappa. In comes opener Virendar Sehwag, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar -- rested for Saturday's match -- and Irfan Pathan, who regained full fitness after missing the first three matches due to a side strain. Pakistan: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younus Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Rao Iftikhar, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanveer, Abdur Rauf, Saeed Ajmal India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL), Ian Gould (ENG) Tv umpires: Akhtaruddin (BAN) Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)