Pacers' places up for grabs

	Sreesanth and RP Singh will be eying spots © AFP

The selectors meet in Chennai on Friday to pick the squads for the New Zealand tour and, given fitness concerns and the conditions on tour, the bulk of their time should go in picking the pace department for the Tests. Two of the pace-bowling contenders were not fit when India last played international cricket - RP Singh didn't bowl in the second innings of the Ranji Trophy final last month because of a shoulder injury, and Munaf Patel had to leave the Sri Lanka tour midway because of a groin injury - which makes it surprising that the Test squad is being picked a month before that leg of the series.

The other injury concern, Harbhajan Singh, has made himself available and should walk into all three teams, but most questions surround the pace department.

The first question is, four or five? They took four fast bowlers to England in 2007, and five to Australia in 2007-08 (VRV Singh was added after Zaheer Khan's injury, making it six). Only two are automatic selections as of now - Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. The pool for the other places is Munaf, RP, Sreesanth and L Balaji. Munaf, if fit, should be the automatic choice for the third slot, but there is also a school of thought that an out-and-out swing bowler might be given preference.

Sreesanth has proved his fitness through a Ranji Trophy match (seven wickets against Jharkhand), and two in the Duleep Trophy (eight wickets at 37.75). Balaji has made an inspirational comeback to playing cricket in the first place - after his stress fracture and the resultant surgery. His Ranji form took him to Sri Lanka as Munaf's replacement, but in the one game he played there it seemed he was not yet at his best.

Test middle order
The early Test selection is also surprising because there is every possibility that a batsman might push for his selection through his performances in the one-dayers in New Zealand. A Rohit Sharma or a Suresh Raina, acclimatised to the conditions and in good form, would be a good pick for Tests too. Yuvraj Singh has taken Sourav Ganguly's place in the XI, but the squad will require at least one middle-order back-up if not two. Rohit and S Badrinath will compete for that place, and Badri has done himself no harm by scoring 372 runs in three Duleep Trophy matches. Rohit too scored two centuries in the Ranji Trophy final, and this will be difficult elimination to make if required.

In the fight of the fringes, the selectors will also have to decide whether India need a back-up opener. The competitors for that slot be M Vijay, who was India's third-choice opener last checked, and Wasim Jaffer, who had a bumper first-class season (1549 runs at 67.34, while captaining Mumbai and West Zone to titles).

Do India need a back-up wicketkeeper? Not really, since Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain, but what if he picks a niggle on the eve of a Test? Dinesh Karthik, in good batting form in domestic competitions, and Parthiv Patel will definitely be discussed. An outsider chance here will be Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who has generally impressed the selectors with his glovework; the selectors can sometimes look ahead after repeated let-downs from same old hands.

Test certainties
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.

Test probables
M Vijay (reserve opener), Dinesh Karthik/Parthiv Patel/Wriddhiman Saha (reserve wicketkeepers), Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath (reserve middle-order batsmen), Amit Mishra (reserve spinner), Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, RP Singh, and L Balaji (back-up pace bowlers).

The team for the ODIs should be easier to pick. The batting selects itself, and it's the bowling that could need some tinkering with.

With Harbhajan back, and with Yusuf Pathan's part-time offspin, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja could be two spinners too many. The main reason is the conditions, which could favour a swing-bowling allrounder, pointing to Irfan Pathan. It won't be a surprise if India play with four medium-pacers (including Irfan) and a spinner in their XIs. So if Munaf is fit he could take the place of a spinner. A reserve wicketkeeper could be picked too, and if it happens Karthik should be the best choice because of his batting form (1026 runs at 64.12 in the current first-class season)

ODI certainties
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan.

ODI probables
Munaf Patel, L Balaji, Sreesanth, RP Singh (one or two back-up pacers), Dinesh Karthik/Parthiv Patel/Wriddhiman Saha (reserve wicketkeepers), Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja (left-arm spinner).

Sachin Tendulkar has made himself unavailable for the two Twenty20 internationals, and it could be a good opportunity to give the likes of Jadeja an experience of New Zealand conditions even if he is not playing the ODIs. But the selectors could go for the safer route of not picking a different squad for the Twenty20s.