Azharuddin was admonished by the selectors when they dropped six players from the squad who took part in the current Champions' Trophy tournament in Sharjah.

India lost all three of their matches and went out of the limited overs four-team event in the United Arab Emirates where England beat West Indies in yesterday's final.

Azharuddin escaped being dropped despite a disappointing performance in India's crucial last match against West Indies on Tuesday when he was run out for four.

Ramakant Desai, chairman of the selection panel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said Azharuddin was reprimanded by the selectors for ``not giving his best''.

``He was told in as many words to be 'more involved with the team in future or else. . .','' Desai added.

Desai said India had dropped six players for the series, starting in Guwahati on Monday, because ``the way the Indian team performed [in Sharjah] we find that these changes were badly needed.''

Those left out are batsmen Rahul Dravid and Vinod Kambli, pacemen Venkatesh Prasad and Abey Kuruvilla, leg-spinner Anil Kumble and wicketkeeper Saba Karim.

They have been replaced by batsman Vangipurappu Laxman, all-rounders Sairaj Bahutule and Hrishikesh Kanitkar, medium-pacers Debasis Mohanty and Harvinder Singh and wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia.

India Squad: *S R Tendulkar, S Ganguly, N S Sidhu, M Azharuddin, A D Jadeja, V V S Laxman, H Kanitkar, S V Bahutule, -N R Mongia, J Srinath, R K Chauhan, H Singh, D Mohanty, R Singh.