Rotation amid the revolution

There was immediate good news for Harbhajan Singh, but Virender Sehwag need not despair just yet. Although the selectors did not find place for Sehwag in the squad for the first three one-dayers against Australia, you can be sure he will figure at some point in the 12 ODIs India play at home over the next couple of months. With the quantum of cricket India have ahead of them, the selectors will rotate Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

It's been a long while since an Indian team sheet has had the triumvirate without a captaincy role assigned to one of them. First Tendulkar was captain, and when he had enough, handed the baton over to Ganguly. Then, after a long apprenticeship as vice-captain, Dravid took over from Ganguly. In Dravid's tenure the wheel appeared to come circle, or spin backwards, depending on how you looked at it, and Tendulkar served as his deputy. Now, the slate has been wiped clean, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni leading and Yuvraj Singh being made second in command.

The lack of leaders in the Indian set-up became glaringly obvious with the selectors having little option but to revert to Yuvraj, someone who had the job and was relieved of it after repeated disciplinary infractions, albeit minor ones, left him red-faced. He now has a fresh chance to look seriously at the captaincy - and it will fall upon him should Dhoni be injured or need a break - and also cement his place in the team. After all these years of one-day cricket Yuvraj remains firmly out of the Test side, and that's a problem he's not been able to overcome, despite changes to the batting personnel at the top of the order in recent times.

It's fairly well known that Munaf Patel got more chances than some others in his place would, simply for his ability to hit a good line, if in rhythm. But that 'if' has now grown so big that it's hard to believe the medium-pacer when he says he is fit, only to break down at the first sign of strenuous competitive cricket. For the moment at least Munaf has to go back to the drawing board, and prove his fitness, not through a test or a doctor's certification, but by playing matches.

And it's not such a bad thing that Munaf has been sent packing, for another bowler who suffered the same fate, Irfan Pathan, has re-emerged, hopefully stronger. In the little opportunity he had to show his wares at the ICC World Twenty20, Pathan has swung the ball noticeably, the bat with gay abandon, and added an edge to the fielding that was missing during the one-day series in England.

Rohit Sharma will be disappointed, and he has every right to be. He was a passenger on the tour to England, and has not got a hit in the Twenty20s so far. Without being given a chance to succeed or fail Sharma has been dropped, and that's never a good place to be in. For Ajit Agarkar, though, the drop should hardly come as a surprise. He has done a bit, but not enough certainly to be an automatic selection. And he's another one who is going to be on the fringes constantly, given the frequency with which India's fast bowlers break down and/or lose form.

In all, it was a selection where there were no surprises. If the selectors had a long-term plan vis-à-vis Sehwag, they didn't reveal it. But in ushering Harbhajan and Pathan back into the fold, on the basis of some promising Twenty20 performances, they have showed what route they're likely to take, whenever the appropriate time comes around.