The national selectors picked the 14-member team for the Dhaka encounter if India qualifies. Sri Lanka and Pakistan, who are also in contention for a berth in the final lock horns in their round-robin match at Lahore from tomorrow.

Pakistan having logged 17 points are almost certain to make the final. Lanka and India, who have tallied 4 and 10 points respectively would be battling for the other spot in the final.

Explaining the reasons for omitting Laxman, Ajit Wadekar, chairman of the national selection committee said, ``Laxman is a good batsman but it is just that he is out of form and hence we decided to replace him.''

Bengal opener Devang Gandhi takes Laxman's place and would open the innings, he added.

Provisional team for Asian Test Championship: Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Anil Kumble (vice-captain),Sadagoppan Ramesh, Devang Gandhi, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Nayan Mongia, Javagal Srinath, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ashish Nehra, Sunil Joshi, Harbhajan Singh and Hrishikesh Kanitkar.