World Cuppers or India A?

MUMBAI: Can second stringers pose a serious challenge to the players already entrenched in the Indian Test team when the Test series against New Zealand gets underway this season? It can only happen if they are given the chance. And that will be when the national selection committee meets for the first time in the new season in Mumbai on Tuesday to name the probables for the pre-tour camp. The opener's spot and one in the mid-order is up for grabs. And possibly one spinner's spot also. The last Test we played was in New Zealand when Sanjay Bangar and Virender Sehwag opened. They can well cope against New Zealand but later in Australia Sehwag may not relish the job when the ball bounces. Bangar will be needed to fend the ball down. From the new crop, Wasim Jaffer, Shiv Sunder Das and Gautam Gambhir have posed a challenge after a good show for India A. There's also Amit Pagnis with 989 runs from last season. In mid-order, the quartet in the last Test side was Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman. Laxman's injury has posed posers. His challengers could be from the World Cuppers, Yuvraj Singh, Mohamed Kaif and Dinesh Mongia. Or from the India A players like Ambati Rayudu, Hemang Badani, Sriram or Rohan Gavaskar. One shouldn't forget Abhijit Kale, who has a compact technique. Parthiv Patel appears to have settled in the keeping slot. He did well in England playing all but one game for India A and doping well with the bat. The selectors should keep track of Mumbai's Vinayak Samant who batted well when the chips were down and Karnataka's Thilak Naidu who scored 817 runs. In the pace department one can say there are riches -- Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Agarkar, Srinath. And the quartet of challengers from the India A -- Amit Bhandari, L Balaji, Avishkar Salvi and Irfan Pathan. Form and fitness will be crucial. In spin Harbhajan's fitness will be crucial. Kumble's future is at stake. Amit Mishra has staked a claim but if India are looking for all-rounder then Sairaj Bahutule and Ramesh Powar need to be considered. Sairaj was second best wicket-taker with 62 after veteran Hirwani (79) last season. Murali Kartik was steady in the England tour according to the coach. One leftarmer surely can be fit on in the 25. If the World Cuppers are considered then a lot of the India A players will be sidelined at the probables stage itself. That's a tough call for the selectors.