After the adrenaline overload at Eden Gardens, and India running out of steam at Cuttack, the one-day circus pitches tent in Chennai. The last time Sourav Ganguly and his men were here, they left as heroes – conquerors of a supposedly invincible Australian side in anedge-of-the-seat Test-match thriller. This time, it's Nasser Hussain and England that climb into the ring as prohibitive underdogs. Not that you would think so going by India's conservative and unimaginative team selection.

Why pick 14 at all when you play the same 11 all the time? If the selectors reckon that Sanjay Bangar is a useful bits-and-pieces allrounder, isn't it time we got to watch him in action? Or do the bits-and-pieces only add up to carrying drinks?

And what of Sarandeep Singh? He's in the form of his life and must be wondering what he has to do to get a game. If Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble were running through England in 20 overs, you could understand why he is warming the bench. But that's hardly been the case.

Even more puzzling is the reluctance to tinker with the batting. Dinesh Mongia has come in and done wonderfully well as replacement for Rahul Dravid, but other than that we've seen no hint of adventure from the think-tank. Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly – for all the recent criticism, India's best one-day batsman over the last couple of years – are the only two guaranteed to be on the plane to South Africa next February. No-one else has done enough to merit an automatic place and that makes you wonder why more ingredients haven't made it into the pot.

Opening with Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar would be a start. That's no reflection on Ganguly's ability in the one-day game, merely an experiment with the World Cup in mind: Ganguly is a sitting duck against the short ball, and with the one-bouncer-per-over rule now in place, India should be considering all their options.

It's also high time they experimented with prospective pinch-hitters. Remember England being at the receiving end of a Chetan Sharma blitz 12 seasons ago? England have come into this series with men like Andy Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Ben Hollioake, none of them a slouch with the long handle. The reality of limited-overs cricket is that you need either the rocket-launcher – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, Abdur Razzaq, Lance Klusener – or the scampering rabbit/touch-artist (Michael Bevan, Jonty Rhodes, Chris Harris) to ensure that your innings ends with a flourish.

To echo Crosby, Stills and Nash, India should have seen the changes. After going through the first two matches of a six-pack against England, you wonder when they'll ever learn. Every other team in international cricket – good, bad or indifferent – is gearing up with the World Cup in mind. India seem interested only in short-term gains and facile victories – and they haven't even achieved those – against a largely experimental England side.

Nasser Hussain deserves plaudits for the way his team have gone about things. But for that atrocious umpiring decision against Marcus Trescothick at Kolkata, they could conceivably have been 2-0 up. The bowling is middling to indifferent but India have played into England's hands by neglecting the basics. England have also backed the newbies and Paul Collingwood and co. have repaid that faith.

Down Under, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand - three teams with the personnel and form to cruise into the latter stages of the World Cup – have dished out some enthralling cricket. Australia lost their opening three matches but stuck by their rotation policy in the face of harsh criticism. As Steve Waugh wrote in a column today, "long-term benefits may sometimes appear to conflict with short-term goals". Mind you, he can afford to thumb his nose at ill-informed critics. Any criticism of a system or policy that fetches you 19 wins and just three defeats in a calendar year borders on the insane.

India have to get over the fear of losing – as if anyone really cares about non-World Cup matches anyway – and get those fringe players centre stage. Myopic people walk into brick walls and what Indian cricket needs right now, with the World Cup only a year away, is the 20:20 vision to allow it to scale such barriers.

Possible team 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Dinesh Mongia, 4 Virender Sehwag, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Hemang Badani, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Javagal Srinath, 11 Sarandeep Singh.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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