Monty Panesar [Images] has taken the world of cricket by storm since making his international debut last year.

Who can forget the wild celebrations when he claimed his first wicket, that of the great Sachin Tendulkar [Images], at Nagpur in March, last year.

Since then his bowling continues to improve. His wickets tally stands at a healthy 65 in 17 Tests.

In the recently-concluded Test series against the West Indies [Images], his haul of 26 wickets in four Tests helped England [Images] to a convincing 3-0 victory.

However, former India wicketkeeping great Farokh Engineer believes Panesar won't hold any threat to the Indian batting line-up in the forthcoming three-Test series.

"I don't think Monty will be a threat to the Indian batsmen. Monty is a great bowler and he will be a threat to the other batsmen around the world, but not the Indian batsmen.

"Monty will be meat and drink for our boys," he told rediff.com on Sunday.

Engineer believes the experienced Indian batting line-up, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid [Images] and Sourav Ganguly [Images], is well-equipped to handle the left-arm spinner.

"We have quite a few bowlers in India who are not too dissimilar to Monty. Not taking away any credit from Monty, he is a great bowler and has done well so far. But he will not be a threat for us and should not be," he added.

Engineer also believes that the absence of Steve Harmison is a big boost for India. The England fast bowler is likely to miss out on the Test series due to a hernia problem.

"It is good news for Indian batsmen, as Harmison, on his day, is just unplayable. 

"Harmison is a quick bowler, but on days he just goes off the boil, and on certain days he is Harmison the unplayable," Engineer said.