The selection of the Indian team for the first Test against England is a monstrous knee-jerk reaction from the selectors. So much so that Chandu Borde's patella must be fairly vibrating by now. Virender Sehwag is in the 14, but that in itself is not surprising. He may yet be kept out of the first XI, and there is still room for compromise. L'affaire Denness remains at a standstill. And much as British journalists gave Borde a lambasting at the press conference, he was only going by the brief given by his president: to consider everyone and pick the team on merit. The machiavellian manoeuvres are happening elsewhere.

What is surprising about the selection is that all the fast bowlers who went to South Africa have been dropped. Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad were injured, but to punish Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, and Ajit Agarkar is a bit ridiculous. Nehra and Khan suffered from bowling in the first Test without any match practice, and while Agarkar wasn't impressive either, to drop all three is a sign of panic. Like it or lump it, these men are the country's premier fast bowlers, and they must be nurtured. To discard them now might finish them forever. Indian cricket will not be the richer for that.

The selection of Sanjay Bangar, however, is laudable. Bangar opens both the batting and the bowling for Railways. And in the Board President's XI match against England he bowled superbly to take five wickets in the second innings. He bowls wicket-to-wicket at a lively pace, and displayed great control and accuracy in that match, a quality India could well have done with in South Africa.

The selections of Tinu Yohannan and Iqbal Siddiqui are not so praiseworthy though. Yohannan is promising, and has menacing eyes, but is still a bit raw; Siddiqui is a journeyman who is just plain lucky to be selected, almost by default. The England pacemen, criticised for being too inexperienced, must suddenly be wondering what the fuss is all about. Hoggard and co. have more experience than the Indian quicks, who aggregate zero Tests between them.

The selectors have kept faith with Connor Williams, after his fighting 42 in the second innings of the Centurion match, but he is still on trial, and has a one-match window in which to justify his inclusion. Sadagoppan Ramesh is fit and waiting to be recalled.

Sarandeep Singh has been rightly picked as a third spinner, though Murali Kartik would be justified in feeling disappointed. Mohali may be a greentop though: if India play four bowlers, only two spinners may play - Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.

India could decide to drop Williams and open the batting with Bangar, thus playing three spinners and one more quick. Or they could open with Deep Dasgupta, who saved the Test for India at Port Elizabeth, and then play two quicks and three spinners. There are many options at the top of the order - not something one could have said a month ago.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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