16 men selection put five wise men in dilemma

Dec 12:  The big question awaits whether who will board the flight to Australia!

The big question that is looming large over Indian selectors’ mind, when they will sit down to select the 16-member squad for the upcoming Australian tour, is to whom to pick and whom to leave to complete the potent tour party.

Selectors are in deep trouble in major two departments, as their discussion will likely to focus around the few places in the pace department and for the second wicket-keeper’s slot.

The five wise men will be looking for seven specialist batsmen, two wicket-keepers, two spinners and five pacers to make the 16-member tour party. However, there could be a chance that a 17th member could be included in the side because of fitness concerns.

The selectors have got no problem to pick Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly for the middle order. Wasim Jaffer alongwith Gautam Gambhir have booked their place at the top of the order.

Aakash Chopra too could get the nod for the opening slot after his series of good performances in the domestic circle. MS Dhoni clearly makes the cut for the first choice keeper, but the problem remains with Dinesh Karthick as whether he would be able to retain his place in the Test squad.

Karthick’s batting performance has not been remarkable in the ongoing Test match series against Pakistan. Parthiv Patel is knocking the door of selectors for quite sometime after his spell of consistent performances with India A. The left-handed batsman-wicketkeeper’s five straight tons for India A and his consistent show in all the domestic games that he has played makes the second wicket-keeper choice discussion very interesting.

Skipper Anil Kumble will lead the spin department with Harbhajan Singh who is expected to be the second spinner. But the most vital area is fast bowling department where India is struggling at the moment with flurry of injuries.

Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and young Ishant Sharma, after his fine first innings performance in the final test against Pakistan, will get the nod. Ajit Agarkar could make a comeback, as his experience in Australian pitches will come into consideration. There will be a struggle for the final spot between Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and Rajasthan rookie pacer Pankaj Singh, while VRV Singh and Ranadeb Bose could be the dark horses to get the green signal.