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Back to the drawing board

On December 26, India will take on Australia, in the second Test of the Ansett Series, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And just two days after that Test ends, they will take the field for the third and final Test, at the SCG, beginning January 2.

The tour game against Tasmania, beginning at Hobart on Friday, thus assumes enormous importance -- it is, quite literally, India's last chance to get its act together with bat and ball, and prepare to make a strong showing in what remains of the series.

Team selection, thus, is going to be crucial. One thing is for sure -- India's best chance, both mentally and in cricketing terms, is to have its big three, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly, batting three, four and five respectively. They are the best cards India has, and they need to be upfront, facing the opposition at the earliest possible and not, by dropping down the order, sending the wrong signals to their mates.

That being the case, India's task in Hobart is to get the rest of its lineup sorted out, ahead of the second Test. Which is why I would like to see the final eleven, against Tasmania, read, in batting order, thus: VVS Laxman, S Ramesh, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Vijay Bharadwaj, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, T Kumaran, Debashish Mohanty, and Harbajan Singh.

There is some talk of making Mongia open the batting -- hopefully, that will remain just that, talk. Earlier this year, in the series against New Zealand, the folly of having stop-gap openers was ruthlessly exposed (in fact, by the end of the tour, selectors and analysts alike were convincing each other of the need for regular openers). And the Kiwi attack is positively benign, even on their pitches, in comparison with McGrath, Fleming and, if rumour speaks true, Brett Lee for Melbourne.

There is something positively Pavlovian about the way the Indian management thinks of its cricket. Use a keeper as stop gap opener. Lose. Moan about the need for two regular openers. Bring in two openers, plus a reserve. Lose. Panic, and go back to the irregular opening option. Lose. Moan about the... you know how it goes...

Going into this series, the selectors and the management knew what the conditions would be like, Down Under. So they picked two openers, plus a reserve. If, just one Test into the series, they have begun considering the use of an irregular, what does that tell you about their confidence in their own selection?

No. >You need two regular openers. Through two tour games and the first Test, Gandhi has been pretty well exposed as a patsy for the short-pitched lifter. So Laxman and Ramesh need to be told that the job is theirs for the duration, and sent out there, upfront, to work out their game, sort out their calling and running, and forge a certain understanding ahead of the next Test.

Dravid needs time in the middle, to sort out the demons in his mind. And Ganguly, who appears to be on a confidence high, needs to be out there to keep the personal momentum going.

The tricky one is number six -- if, at the MCG, India decides to go in with six batsmen, that is. And that is why Bharadwaj and Kanitkar should both play, knowing they are playing for a place in the eleven, and giving the team management a chance to appraise form and mental toughness ahead of the time they sit down to pick the playing eleven for the MCG Test.

Mongia has been taken into the touring party and so, though Prasad didn't do anything wrong that you would notice, in Adelaide, the senior stumper deserves a chance to go out there and show himself and the management what he can do. And the same for the bowlers -- the MCG, as per preliminary reports, is likely to be a quick-paced track, and ideally, the Indian management should be looking at a four-man pace attack, with Kumble the spinner, and one keeper plus the two openers and the big three doing the job for the bat.

And this in turn means that Kumaran and Mohanty need a chance to prove their form, and bid for a spot in the eleven.

So why Harbajan? Because if the Indians are, on this tour, likely to play two spinners, it is at Sydney -- and this is the last chance they will get to try the young offie out, to put him through his paces and help him get some sort of rhythm going into that game.

It's early days yet, the last word on the character of the MCG track is not in yet. But if early build up is any indication, chances are India will find a fast, bouncy track out there.

The knee-jerk tendency of this team management, any time inimical conditions are on the horizon, is to pack the batting. This time round, that might not be a sensible option. Look at it this way -- neither Bharadwaj, nor Kanitkar, have done anything to suggest that they can do well on a track friendly to quick bowlers. So, the benefits to the team of picking either of them is purely illusory, cosmetic.

If India had on its bench a tried, tested middle order batsman, then perhaps the ploy of batting to six might be an option to consider. They don't -- so the alternative is to beef up the bowling, and think on the lines of attacking the opposition's batting lineup.

Thus, all things considered, India's lineup for Melbourne should ideally read: Laxman, Ramesh, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, MSK Prasad/Nayan Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, T Kumaran/Debasish Mohanty, Venkatesh Prasad.

The Hobart game gives the team management the chance to figure out the marginal picks. And one last chance for Ramesh, Laxman, and Dravid to bat themselves into the kind of form, and confidence, that will justify the team going in to Melbourne with just five batsmen in the lineup.

Prem Panicker