Gurkeerat, latest piece in India's five-bowler jigsaw

India's large squads have always been a talking point during their home series. The likes of Australia and England whittle their selections down to 12 players by the eve of Test matches, and send the rest away for match practice in domestic cricket. When India chose to do something similar during the Mohali Test against South Africa, and sent their reserve players out to play in the Ranji Trophy, it was seen as an unusual move.

Now, two days before the second Test in Bangalore, India have added a 17th member to a squad that, by all accounts, has no fitness worries. The BCCI's press release contained exactly one sentence, announcing that Gurkeerat Singh had been added to the squad, and divulged no other information.

There is one recent precedent for this move. Ahead of the second Test of their recent Sri Lanka tour, India flew Stuart Binny into their squad. They had a couple of injury worries then, but there was a feeling that Binny could slot in as an allrounder in what were expected to be seam-friendly conditions at the P Sara Oval. This was precisely what happened: Binny played the second and third Tests and did a useful job as a third seamer.

Gurkeerat , like Binny, is an allrounder. He bats in the middle order for Punjab, and bowls offspin. Judging by his first-class and List A statistics, he does both very well: he averages more than 45 with the bat in both formats, just over 30 with the ball in List A cricket, and 18.86 in first-class cricket, from a small but not insignificant sample of 1192 deliveries that have brought him 30 wickets.

Gurkeerat's recent form is outstanding. In August, when he was playing 50-overs matches for India A, he made half-centuries in successive matches against Australia A and South Africa A, and picked up a five-wicket haul against Bangladesh A. In his two Ranji Trophy matches after that, he scored an unbeaten double-hundred against Railways and took a match haul of nine wickets against Andhra.

The match against Andhra only lasted two days, and produced a scorecard that strongly indicated a surface highly conducive to spin, but nine wickets is still a serious haul, indicative of ability that is better than part-time. India, now, perhaps need that ability.

At various points during the Mohali Test, it seemed as if India's five-bowler combination had left them with one batsman too few and one fast bowler too many. But that was after they had tested out the playing surface. They couldn't have been so sure at the toss. Someone such as Binny, in place of either Umesh Yadav or Varun Aaron, might have helped lengthen the batting while still giving them a seam-bowling option. Someone such as Gurkeerat could have provided a less likely alternative, perhaps, batting in the middle order and giving India half, or three-quarters, of a third spinner in place of, say Amit Mishra.

It isn't certain how the Bangalore pitch will play. There has been persistent rain over the city in the last week or so, and the pitch may not have the chance to completely bake under the sun, crumble, and give India the confidence to play three spinners. The cloud cover may caution them against leaving out a frontline seam bowler. Having Gurkeerat in their squad might help them hedge their bets to some extent: two seamers, two spinners, and a batting allrounder whose offspin, judging by record and recent form, is more than handy.

Gurkeerat might not get to play at all. India may have simply called him up because they were so impressed by his fielding, as one of two Punjab players who filled in as substitutes after India sent out the likes of Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to play in the Ranji Trophy. But there is a chance they have called him up to fill a specific need and balance out an XI that has often needed tinkering in Virat Kohli's five-bowler era.