Indian squad for the West Indies series

The squad for the first 2 matches against the West Indies has been chosen and it seems like the selectors have made a huge gamble here. This is the squad:

Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar (v/c), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, M S Dhoni, R P Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh.

With Sehwag out of the team, we need a new opener and I think Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir or Dinesh Karthik is going to get the nod and will be opening with Tendulkar. And no, I don’t think Ganguly will be made to open because if he does open then our middle order is going to be very weak. I would like to see Robin given a chance here. The funny thing though is that Robin was once a wicketkeeper-batsman, which means we now have four players who have kept wickets in a 15 member squad. Anyways, Dravid should definitely come in at number 3 and Ganguly at number 4.

We now have three players vying for the 5 and 6 slots. I am sure most people would want Raina kept out and have Dinesh Karthik, who seems to be in good form and Joginder Sharma in those positions. Though I would really like to have Karthik in the team, I would go for Raina. This is for two reasons. One, he has faired well on Indian wickets and has more experience than the others. Two, he is a left hand batsman. Also, we will need someone like Joginder because with Sehwag out of the team, we cannot afford to have Sachin bowling 10 overs. Ganguly could chip in, but he has never been good on Indian wickets. Unless we go for 5 bowlers, which would be a big gamble with the current batting line up and form.

Other than the fourth bowler, the rest of the team pick themselves: Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer and Sreesanth. Depending on the pitch we can pick Agarkar or Powar.

I would have been happy if they had found a place for Laxman. I would pick him any day over Raina or Karthik. The other surprising factor seems to be that the selectors did not mention anything about the status of Yuvraj Singh’s fitness.

That’s my team:

Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Suresh Raina, Joginder Sharma, M S Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh.

What with the changes and everything, I only hope that the selectors stick with it. I dont want them to go back and pick Sehwag and Pathan again if we lose the first two matches.