England tour: Opening blues for selectors

The Indian selectors have an unenviable task of finding a solution to India’s opening woes when they sit in Chennai to pick the Test squad for the England tour. With Virender Sehwag virtually ruled out for the series and the current Indian pair — Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund — not doing too well, Krishnamachari Srikkanth will have to find a solution for the opening worries.

With Gautam Gambhir, who declared himself fit for the series after giving rest to his shoulder, set for a return, the selectors will have to find a right partner for the Delhi batsman. Mukund has not exactly done well in the current series against West Indies and Vijay has failed miserably in the four innings he got to bat in the Caribbean. Unlike against the West Indies, England will be a strong proposition in altogether different conditions.

There hasn’t yet been any concrete information about the status of Sehwag’s injured shoulder that underwent a surgery in May but indications are that the dashing India opener is yet to start practicing. He has spent time recently at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. However, he may struggle to get fit in time for the first Test, which starts on July 21 at the Lord’s.

There is speculation that selectors may just take a gamble by including Sehwag in the team and wait for him to get fit by the time the second Test starts in Nottingham from July 29. India are scheduled to play 4 Tests and 5 ODIs.

“We have no information as of now on the status of Sehwag’s injury. We will only get to know once we are in Chennai. We have heard that Gautam and Zaheer are fit,” a selector said. Asked about the poor show by Vijay and Mukund in the Caribbean, the selector retorted, “These two (Vijay and Mukund) are the best available replacements for Viru and Gauti. We don’t have too many options in opening. Only Parthiv can be another option.” Parthiv Patel, who can also open, is a certainty as a second wicketkeeper slot.

The rest of the squad picks itself, with Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan returning to the team. On Friday, Yuvraj Singh, who too skipped the tour of West Indies, was believed to have undergone fitness test.

The left-handed middle-order batsman, after his high in the World Cup, could be rewarded with a Test recall. The selectors may also have a close look at Rohit Sharma, who had an excellent ODI series in the Caribbean.

In the pace department, Ishant Sharma, besides Zaheer, is a certainty. Praveen Kumar, S Sreesanth, Abhimanyu Mithun will fight for the two more slots. Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra may take the two spinners’ positions.