With less than 3 weeks left for the Boxing day Test match the hype machine for India’s tour down under has just started. It looks like it is going to be a hard fought series.

The obvious choices:

The team for Australia is going to be picked in a couple of days time and I thought I would play selector and pick a squad that could give the Aussies a run for their money. Its obvious that certain players pick themselves and these include the big four Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman- the four will form the middle order while Anil Kumble,Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan should be automatic selections for delivering with the ball. MS Dhoni will be the first choice player to wield the gloves behind the stumps. That leaves us with eight more spots to fill.

With Yuvaraj Singh in sublime form and Wasim Jaffer a rock solid opener, they will have to be picked to counter the in-form Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson. Irfan Pathan with his superb hundred in Bangalore in the third test against Pakistan must have convinced the selectors for a place in the squad.

The other five slots:

There are 5 spots now up for grabs. Surely with such a long tour there must be a reserve wicketkeeper, Parthiv Patel with his experience from the last tour could be an option while Dinesh Karthick’s agility and the ability to open the innings could play to his advantage. I will strongly go for Karthick since he has proved that he can bat in England and asking Parthiv to open is not a good idea.

Despite their non-inclusion in the initial list of 24, S. Badrinath and Virendra Sehwag are in the running for the last batting slot along with Gautham Gambhir. Ian Chappell has claimed that the selectors have erred by not picking Sehwag. But then again he is not in form and it can work both ways for India. He can either demolish the attack or get out in the first over as he has done ever so often over the last two years. Gambhir and Badrinath have been performing consistently at the domestic level and it is going to be a tough call for the selectors. Knowing their aversion towards Tamil Nadu Cricketers I am sure that Gambhir will get the nod while Badrinath will be left in the cold.

The bowlers

The bowlers seem to be lacking in fitness and it is going to be a tough ask to see them pick 20 wickets. With Sydney and Adelaide suiting the Indian Spinners the onus is going to be on Kumble and Harbhajan to do the trick.

With the current injury scenario it looks like only Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, VRV singh and RP Singh are fit enough to take the burden. So I guess VRV Singh will be omitted which gives the remaining 3 pacers a spot. And Ishant Sharma’s good performance in Bangalore should ensure that he gets the ticket. I guess this is the best possible squad to tour down under and this will give India a good opportunity to try beating the Aussies in their own den.