Indians are spoilt for choice now

With the return of Tendulkar, it is a problem of plenty for Dhoni. It will be interesting to see where he  accommodates the Master Blaster, writes Nihal Koshie

The return of Sachin Tendulkar to the ODI squad makes it one abundant in riches. Picking the playing XI for the fourth game in Bangalore from a squad of 15, that now also includes an in-form Irfan Pathan, will give Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gary Kirsten a mild headache, albeit a pleasant one.

At the top of the batting line-up Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have forged a great working relationship. Most recently, at Rajkot they gave India a rollicking start that helped the side post a mammoth total that shut out England.

So would Dhoni want to tamper with the combination at the top to allow India’s most successful batsman. Tendulkar, who has made 38 of his 42 hundreds while opening the innings, to take full advantage of the Power Play?

Incidentally, Tendulkar opened the innings in his last 33 games, a run that began with the ODI against Ireland at Belfast and culminated in the second final of the CB Series against Australia in Brisbane.

His last three scores as an opener read 63, 117 n.o and 91, the last two going a long way in helping India beat Australia in the best-of-three finals of the CB Series with a game to spare.

Tendulkar opted to rest after the hard-fought Test series against Australia and in his absence Dhoni & Co. won three games on the trot. Tendulkar’s recall will require the winning combination to be tweaked to accommodate the veteran of 417 ODIs.

Since the CB Series, during which Gambhir either opened with Tendulkar or batted at No.3 to make way for Robin Uthappa, left-handed Delhi opener has made the opening slot his own. He has made six half-centuries, including a 90 and has a century against his name. The Gambhir-Sehwag duo have made 765 runs at 69.55, including two century stands, after India won the tri-series Down Under.

Dhoni has been deft in handling the seniors in his team, while he has also taken some bold and sensible decisions. Most recently, during the second Test at Mohali he promoted himself to No.3, a position occupied by Rahul Dravid, when India were trying to set a target in quick time in the second innings.

Here with England staring down the barrel, it would be interesting to see where India play Tendulkar. The presence of the 35-year-old with over 16,361 runs in ODIs will only heighten Kevin Pietersen’s worries with the score line reading 0-3.

If the opening combination is to remain untouched then one of either Suresh Raina or Rohit Sharma, both of whom haven’t made big runs in the three games, will have to be benched to make way for Tendulkar.

The inclusion of Irfan Pathan will depend on how deep Dhoni wants India to bat. At Kanpur, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel formed the fast bowling unit and shared five wickets among them.

Yusuf Pathan looks comfortable at No.7. The troika of Yusuf, Yuvraj and  Sehwag effectively filled the workload of a fifth bowler, while Harbhajan Singh led the spin attack.

Going into Bangalore, both captains will run through their resources and check and counter-check if things are adding up. But it will be Dhoni, not Pietersen, who will be more at ease.