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Indian team selection today

S. Dinakar

Chennai: A 15-member Indian squad for the two-Test cricket series against England will be picked here on Thursday. The BCCI, expecting the ECB to clear the tour, will go ahead with the selection process for the series.

Yuvraj Singh is certain to take the place of Sourav Ganguly in the middle-order. Ganguly has retired from international cricket and Yuvraj, another left-hander, was in blazing form in the ODIs against England.

The squad should include three openers, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and M. Vijay, the back-up. Rahul Dravid would be the No. 3, followed by Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. S. Badrinath, who was part of the squad against Australia, has done nothing wrong to lose his place in the 15.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni picks himself as the wicket-keeper batsman. Three pacemen, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel, and an equal number of spinners in Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha should get the nod. Ojha brings with him the left-armer’s variety.

There is intense competition for the additional middle-order batsman’s slot but Badrinath, who has notched up Ranji hundreds against Uttar Pradesh and Andhra in his last two innings, should hold back the challenge from Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma.

Since India did not field more than two pacemen in the eleven during the four-Test series against Australia at home, a fourth paceman in the squad might be a luxury.

If the conditions at Mohali encourage the pacemen – this is a possibility in the month of December – Munaf Patel enters the picture as the third paceman.

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