Interesting selections..

for the five extra bowlers who will make it to the Kolkata camp.

Ranadeb Bose gets lovely shape on the ball.. Yomahesh and Sharma are tall, hit the deck types. Pankaj Singh's profile lists him as a right hand bat ( HS 74) and right hand medium fast. Pragyan Ojha is a left arm spinner.

It is interesting that there are two left arm spinners in the camp - Rajesh Pawar and Pragyan Ojha. Two left arm spinners could only mean one thing - Bangladesh has 3 left arm spinners in thier ranks and the Indian batsmen haven't really covered themselves in glory playing that variety of spin in recent times.

If Yomahesh and Sharma represent the future and Ojha is in the camp to provide batting practice, what use Ranadeb Bose and Pankaj Singh?

And isn't the Indian team selection for Bangladesh a little like that? Neither forward looking nor heavy on experience - a little nip here, a tuck there and everyone gets to crow about "youth" or "experience" - depending on which side of the divide you are on.

Look at the teams again

ODI squad: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.

Virender Sehwag gets a new lease of life. This, when his test batting form has been better than his ODI batting form ( unless you rate a hundred against Bermuda as a pointer to form).

Three openers have been selected - If Virender Sehwag is a fixture ( and I dot see why not, what with the skipper backing him), Gambhir and Uthappa have the 3 ODIs to make an impression ( wonder how much playing time either will get).

Two wicketkeepers ( MSD and DK) make the trip - overkill?

4 pace bowlers have been selected - how much playing time should RP Singh realistically expect?

Manoj Tiwary and Piyush Chawla lead the young brigade - against that you have Dinesh Mongia on a comeback. And Zaheer Khan.

Test squad: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Munaf Patel.

One specialist opener. And Dinesh Karthik. Unless Rahul Dravid wants to make the opening position his own. And I wont be too surprised if he does. How else do you accommodate Sachin, Saurav, VVS and Yuvraj in the team?

7 bowlers for a two test set.. How much playing time will VRV Singh get? If we go three pace two spin, bye bye Rajesh Pawar. If its three spin two pace - guess who the fall guys will be.

Also, the middle order is the same old tried and tested bunch that failed us in Durban and Newlands. No new faces there.
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Like the spare bowlers, the Indian team is neither here nor there - there is no direction or any indication thereof.

PS:- Where is Md.Kaif? And whats this nonsense about Yuvraj being the "anointed vice captain"? Puhleazeee.

PPS: - Siddharth Monga on the Tiwary and Pawar selections
Anand Vasu - here.
Interesting point Vasu makes - Ajit Agarkar would have made the team if Rahul had his way.. I have never been flash about Rahul's One Day capataincy and now I am getting to the point where I am beginning to question his cricketing judgment.