The usual suspects, four men on the comeback trail and three others looking to make a mark in the international arena - this is the assortment of goodies that India's selectors have come up with for the first three matches of what promises to be a tightly contested one-day series against England. All this, under a captain for whom run-making is fast becoming a distant memory. With the bits and pieces available to them, the selectors have done a decent job, though Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh can consider themselves unlucky to miss out.

The one thing that the Challenger Series did tell us is that the larder is depressingly bare. Some of the fast bowlers on view were so bad they would be shooed away from an Aussie net session. Plenty of batsmen made runs while doing nothing to suggest that they will cope on more demanding pitches abroad.

Ajit Agarkar was bowler of the tournament and it was a foregone conclusion that he would be back, though tagging him as an allrounder is putting one foot over the fence that separates truth and tripe. Zaheer Khan probably bowled himself into the squad in the Challenger final - the bouncer that cut short Virender Sehwag's cameo was a corker-and-a- half. It would have been desperately close between him and Tinu Yohannan for the third seamer's slot.

Hemang Badani, consistency personified in the tournament that effectively doubled up as a four-day selection trial, and Dinesh Mongia are the batsmen back in favour - both helped by Rahul Dravid's reluctance to put his weakened shoulder to the wheel. Mongia made a sparkling hundred against the Indian Seniors but, but unlike Yuvraj and Kaif, he is not an asset in the field.

As the Test series was a desperately close-run thing, India aren't going to gamble too much in the one-day arena. Sourav Ganguly will continue to open the innings with Sachin Tendulkar. The chairman of selectors, Chandu Borde, made that abundantly clear at the press conference, although he did remind us - lest we suffer from collective amnesia - that the captain's "form is not good".

Haryana's Ajay Ratra will put on the wicketkeeping gloves for the first time in international cricket, though Borde made a point of saying "he is better suited for the one-day matches", which suggests that Deep Dasgupta, who continued with his buttery-slick ways in Bangalore, will be back for the Tests against Zimbabwe. Ratra did adequately with the gloves in the three matches he played here though batting-wise, there is little to choose between him and Dasgupta. Neither man packs enough punch to tilt a one-day game with the bat and the selectors can't be faulted for taking the safer option behind the stumps.

Sanjay Bangar and Sarandeep Singh - Player of the Tournament in Bangalore - also get a dekko. Borde insisted though that both offspinners would not be played in tandem in any of the three games. On current form, Sarandeep can consider himself unlucky if he doesn't get at least a game.

Sanjay Bangar is the second allrounder in the squad and he will vie for a bowling vacancy with Zaheer and Agarkar. Bangar is certainly more accomplished with the bat and while he's not the most penetrative bowler around, he can keep things fairly quiet. Call him India's pedestrian answer to Ian Harvey.

The rest of the team picks itself. Tendulkar and Srinath will go into the England series refreshed - or short of match practice, depending how you look at it- after sitting out the Challenger. One man England should certainly keep an eye on is Sehwag, the new darling of the Indian crowds, who is starting to produce the performances to match his uncanny physical resemblance to Sachin. His 94-ball 125 against a feeble India B attack was thrilling, a Tendulkar-esque masterclass in clean hitting.

The squad will be reviewed after the third match at Chennai on January 25 and further changes could be in the offing. Things could get very interesting indeed if Ganguly can't put bat to ball and the team falter simultaneously. Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor, Wisden.com India.

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