India Team Selection For West Indies Series: The Pieces In Jigsaw Puzzle

The Indian selectors will name the Test side today for the home series against West Indies and the outcome of their meeting becomes interesting from more than one perspective. The selection – or the non-selection if you like – of Harbhajan Singh and the break to be afforded to the Indian captain MS Dhoni before the vital tour of Australia, would be the two much-debated issues in the meeting.

Or at least that is what one would like to believe. It could well turn out that Dhoni’s exclusion was a foregone conclusion while Harbhajan Singh was never in the reckoning but I doubt that will be the case. Especially the latter bit, given that dropping a star player from a home ODI series is a completely different proposition from giving him the sack in a Test series that would act as a feeder to the selection for the vital tour of Australia.

There are other bits that the selectors will look to fit in the jigsaw too – namely the fitness of all those who had either missed the tour of England or come back midway because of sustained injuries.

Virender Sehwag seems to be back to full fitness after guiding Delhi to the second round of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. The one marker for his fitness is his return to bowling and while it was only a T20 tournament, he seems to have done enough to test his previous aggrieved shoulder.

Yuvraj Singh broke his finger on that ill-fated tour of England but it has been reported that he has regained his fitness as well. Whether or not he gets selected in the Test squad which will already see a jostle for places, remains to be seen. A lot could also depend on whether Sachin Tendulkar’s fitness, after he had returned back from the tour of England with an inflamed toe. Later, he missed the Champions League T20 and the home England ODIs as well.

If Tendulkar plays – and he would want to get in touch before the vital of Australia – then the top five slots in the batting are taken care of. For the sixth position in the order, the likes of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and S Badrinath could do battle. Two of these four should make it to the squad, with Kohli’s recent form begging him a place in the Tests again.

If Dhoni remains absent, Wriddhiman Saha could take up the gloves, although Parthiv Patel’s name will do the rounds as well.

The pace bowling department will definitely see Praveen Kumar leading them but the other two places will go to those fully fit. Ishant Sharma had decided to delay his ankle injury to feature in the tour of Australia but he will have to prove his sustenance in the longer format of the game by playing this series. S Sreesanth will partner the two, but India may decide to go into the games with a two-two, pace-spin combination – thus relegating Sreesanth to the bench.

My squad for the West Indies Test series:

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth