The way into the national team is through the openers' slot, goes an old Indian saying. It has ensured that a settled opening pair has become a rarity post-Gavaskar, and it almost denied India -- and the world -- VVS Laxman. It was a logic that almost made the Genuine Indian Opener follow the dodo into extinction. Sadagoppan Ramesh's back injury will deprive India of a breezy, mostly scratchy, always valuable, 40-odd, but it will force the selectors into a hunt for a third opener, and perhaps even a fourth; linings don't come much more silver than this. They don't have the luxury of choosing between Michael Hussey, Jamie Cox and Matthew Elliott as reserves. Instead, they are confronted by a mixture of the underdone, the over-ripe and the ordinary, and will have to play their cards deftly.

First in the pecking order is left-handed Connor Williams, the son of a former Baroda captain, Cecil Williams, and now himself stand-in captain. After 226 runs -- including one of the all-time chancy centuries -- in the domestic-season curtain-raiser, the Irani Trophy, he was tipped to make it as a third opener in the original squad. With Ramesh out, Williams should be diligently oiling his willow for Test debut. He is comfortable against medium-pacers, far less assured against the bouncing ball. He is competent, not special. He should and will be picked, because the cupboard is so bare, but don't put your money on him topping the averages.

There will also be a temptation, best resisted, to take along 19-year-old Vinayak Mane, who learnt his cricket from Sachin Tendulkar's coach, Ramakant Achrekar, studied at the same school as Tendulkar, and is even smaller than the little master. He is the brightest of the lot -- compact, organised and patient -- but not ready, by his own admission, for international cricket. He has faced Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne before a full-house at the Brabourne, but his neat leg-side tucks have yet to fetch him a first-class hundred; he should be picked only if the team management can indulge him with an internship that carries minimal expectation. With one regular ruled out, now is not his time.

Instead, his two-Test old Mumbai opening partner, Wasim Jaffer, would be a far wiser choice. Jaffer played in early 1999 against South Africa in a series that India lost 0-2. He scored very few -- 4, 6, 13 and 23 -- but note the progress. His mode of dismissal, fending off the back foot, was worrying because he was considered to be among the better back-foot players on the domestic circuit. Yet, by his fourth innings he had learnt to last 24 overs, rather than the four of his first. He is still only 23 and averaged 42.50 in the last Ranji season; a longer run would be fair, it may well prove fruitful.

Akash Chopra from Delhi will be considered, as will Sridhar Sriram from Tamil Nadu. Both boast an excellent domestic season, but don't expect them to make it. On the other hand, you can almost hear the selectors plotting the return of Vikram Rathour over transnational teleconferences.

Rathour's Test career started in England five years ago, and ended with a 44 in Johannesburg six months later. He has been the consummate pro for Punjab -- opening, captaining and occasionally keeping with great success, as well as ably big-brothering a bevy of young talents. The grapevine had it that Ganguly even wanted him in the one-day squad as wicketkeeper-batsman. He would provide not only a third opener, but also a second keeper, the selectors will reason. It is a decision that would be neither one thing nor the other, and thus open to criticism.

But consider the equation here; Nayan Mongia, the best wicketkeeper in the land, is likely to be sidestepped again, and chances are that a young keeper and a fresh opener will both struggle as the series progresses, so in comes your fix-it man: Rathour. The fact is that he is unlikely to either keep or open convincingly, so it's a move that only Rathour, with an extraordinary performance in a victory, may be able to make look like an inspired gamble.

If the gamble fails, the selectors will have to prepare for the brickbats.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India.

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