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Indian team for first Test to be announced today

Special Correspondent

Kirsten happy with performance of frontline bowlers
Performances over the last six to seven months need to be considered

MUMBAI: The Indian team for the first of the four-Test series against Australia to be played at Bangalore will be picked at the Cricket Centre here on Wednesday.

The chairman of the new selection committee, K. Srikkanth, and colleagues Yashpal Sharma, Narendra Hirwani, Surendra Bhave and Raja Venkat, will also have an opportunity to interact with coach Gary Kirsten and captain Anil Kumble.

Whither Ganguly?

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is not at Bangalore for the preparatory camp. It would be a matter of interest whether the left-hander, not included in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Cup by the previous committee, would find favour with the new panel.

If Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, M.S. Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are going to take the field at Bangalore, the selectors may provide clear hints of where Ganguly’s career is heading.

Australia has come with an experienced squad, though with many faces raw in terms of competitive experience on Indian wickets. India coach Kirsten has expressed satisfaction at the performance of the frontline pace and spin bowlers.

“If the bowlers remain free of injury, we have a good attack for the Australia series,” he said after Rest of India’s victory over Delhi.

The selectors have another tour game between Australia and the Board President’s XI at Hyderabad to assess the fitness, form of few more bowling options, but for the second Test onwards.

Sehwag’s partner

As far as batting is concerned, the line of thinking of the new selectors panel would be indicated by the choice of opening partner for Sehwag.

The decision to open with Dravid and Wasim Jaffer for the Rest of India in the Irani Cup in both innings is indicative of the options being tried out before narrowing down the choice of Sehwag’s partner.

The former India captain played a patient, painstaking knock in the second innings.

India needs a capable opener with ability to blend defence and attack and may opt for Gambhir which would allow Dravid to bat in the middle order. The recent series against Sri Lanka saw India’s specialist batsmen struggling against spinner Ajantha Mendis.

Australia is handicapped by the absence of a genuine spinner, so has to depend on a diet of pace to rattle the rival batsmen.

No apprehensions

Kirsten played down apprehensions, if any, based on the performances against Lanka.

“I don’t go by form in one match. These are experienced batsmen who have won matches for India, so performances over the last six to seven months need to be considered,” he had said.

It is difficult to visualise drastic changes by Srikkanth and team in the choice of batsmen to negotiate the Aussie pace battery of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, supported by Shane Watson.

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