Back to the old guard

The more some things change, the less they actually seem to. When Dilip Vengsarkar and Greg Chappell, along with the rest of the selection panel sit down to speak to Rahul Dravid during the third day of Karnataka's Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra at Rajkot, the questions they will have to answer could well mean a return to the old guard.

The first critical question is in the spin department, with Harbhajan Singh. For a couple of years Anil Kumble was well out of favour as the spinner of choice for the shorter version of the game. But with Kumble being called up on the eve of the World Cup, clearly with the big prize in mind, it remains to be seen what role they have in mind. Of course, Harbhajan will certainly feature as the second spinner in the mix - what with the pitches in West Indies being slow and low.

The biggest question-mark, however, hangs over Virender Sehwag's head. He has not merely been in bad form of late, but the manner in which he has been dismissed - playing a big stroke before getting his eye in - has raised the ire of a nation that once preferred watching him bat over Sachin Tendulkar. His century on return to India - against Haryana - may give him some comfort, but it is unlikely to change the view of the selectors and the team management.

For long now it has been said that Sehwag was much too good a player, on his day, to be left out of the side. That one hour of Sehwag, once in five matches, was enough to make a huge difference. But, in sport, no-one can motor along purely on reputation for long. Especially not when there are compelling contenders pressing for the very spot you occupy.

Sourav Ganguly, top-scorer in the Tests in South Africa, has already said in a press conference that he expected to be part of the one-day team. Robin Uthappa, batting like a cultured version of Sehwag, has been battering bowlers across the country so badly that it would be hard to ignore him. 831 first-class runs, scored at a fast clip, with an eye on domination, including five centuries, make him a shoo-in for the spot.

The other decision the selectors and the think-tank will be forced to make is with regard to the young cricketers it chose to get in shape in time for the World Cup. They invested plenty in the likes of Suresh Raina and Rudra Pratap Singh, giving them extended runs despite indifferent performances. The thinking was that it took a certain number of matches in real match situations, under pressure, for a player to get a strong sense of what it took to succeed at the highest level, and also to understand his game well. Will this all be thrown out the window as there is a return to the old guard?

Already Zaheer Khan has made a barnstorming comeback. Strong questions remain on whether VVS Laxman features in the World Cup plans of Vengsarkar and Co. If he does, then he must be played now. This, however, will mean that an Indian eleven could conceivably include Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Kumble, Zaheer, all rather slow movers. This would leave India vulnerable not only in the infield, but also without real firepower in the outfield.

With Yuvraj Singh making a comeback rather earlier than some expected, Mohammad Kaif may be playing for his future if he is picked for the first two matches of the one-day series against West Indies. And then, there is the question that Indian cricket cannot afford to ask so close to the World Cup. Just what does one do with Irfan Pathan? His batting has come along in leaps and bounds, but his bowling has fallen away so badly that he is being pillaged even in domestic cricket.

Only recently there was a rather mischievous piece of reporting in a major Indian newspaper, where unnamed officials of the Baroda Cricket Association suggested that even Rakesh Patel, also of Baroda, was a better option than Pathan. It seems that a wide range of people are losing faith in Pathan, but with him being so critical to the balance of the side, it's almost certain that the team will keep the faith.

For the moment, Ranadeb Bose and Joginder Sharma, fast bowling hopefuls who have made some waves in domestic cricket, are also keeping their fingers crossed. But there's actually not that much space for maneuver in a 14-man squad, and don't be surprised if there's barely a surprise.