Monday, April 8, 2002 The Indian team management have chosen their course, and it must be said, with a big slice of regret, that they have chosen warily. It's hard to argue with their decision to play their likely Test team against a Guyana second-string XI – the itinerary left them with little choice and it boggles the mind how and why the Indian cricket board ever agreed to it – but the selection of the team betrayed a mindset that has blighted Indian cricket for years now. It was defensive, short-sighted and expedient only to the immediate future.

By excluding Wasim Jaffer and Ajay Ratra from the only practice match before the first Test, the Indian team management have once again shown their preference for a sham balance at the cost of the best possible XI. Jaffer and Ratra had been chosen by the Indian selectors as the first-choice opener and wicketkeeper, but by selecting Deep Dasgupta to do both jobs, the Indian team management are trying to buy some cushions for both batsmen and bowlers. A noble aspiration, but it runs the risk of miscarriage.

Getting Dasgupta to open affords the side the luxury of playing Sanjay Bangar, who scored a century in his second Test innings, at No. 7. Bangar can be trusted to bowl his military-medium stuff economically too, lending variety to the bowling attack. For a country starved of allrounders, Dasgupta and Bangar should be good news. The problem, however, is that classifying Dasgupta and Bangar as Test allrounders is stretching the definition a bit.

The great thing about genuine allrounders is that they are more than one-and-a-half players. Garry Sobers was nearly three and Imran Khan was almost two. So is Adam Gilchrist. Shaun Pollock and Chris Cairns can hold their places on their bowling alone and Jacques Kallis is South Africa's best batsman. Deep Dasgupta has shown he has the character and temperament to be a Test opener. But he is not the genuine article yet, and he is a liability as a wicketkeeper. Despite his aggressive century against Zimbabwe, Bangar can't be called the sixth-best batsman in the country, and the bowling that keeps him in the side may be handy in English conditions, but in the West Indies, Sachin Tendulkar's mixed magic could be more effective.

While it is becoming increasingly apparent that the wicketkeeper must bat to keep his place in the side, India would be cutting off their own feet if they handed the gloves over to a man who struggles to make routine collections. Gilchrist and Mark Boucher, the role models for every side, are top-class wicketkeepers first.

Ratra isn't the best keeper in the country – Nayan Mongia is, but he continues to be out of favour with the team management and the selectors – but Ratra is the better of the two in the current squad. He has a sound technique, is alert and once chased a ball to the fine-leg boundary, where he made a diving stop and then threw the ball back in a flash. He is pesky and doughty as a No. 7 batsman and must be allowed to take his rightful place in the Test team.

And Jaffer, it would be cruel if he does not get to play a Test. His selection was itself a triumph of human spirit and diligence. After choking in his first two Tests against South Africa in 2000, Jaffer has fought his way back to the team against heavy odds. He is a classy back-foot player with a wide range of strokes and he has shown a hunger for runs by scoring four domestic hundreds this season. Crucially, he is a true-blue opener to Dasgupta's makeshift one. He should rightfully be given the first crack.

Bits-and-pieces players suit a bits-and-pieces game. Test matches are won by genuine articles. If India are serious about winning a Test series, this is the XI they should field:

1 SS Das, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Javagal Srinath.

Anything else would be an admission that the Indian batsmen aren't good enough. And if they really aren't, India haven't got a chance.

Sambit Bal is editor of Wisden.com India and Wisden Asia Cricket magazine.

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