Where's the opening balance?

To adjust means to adapt or conform.

And when does one need to adapt or conform? Mostly, when you have no other option left and in situations you are unfamiliar with.

With the Indian team, it seems to be a matter of convenience.

The opening position has been hotly debated in recent times, but instead of trying to look for a permanent solution, time and again, the team management opts for a makeshift pair even though there are specialist openers to fall back on.

Spare a thought for all the talented openers who have fallen by the wayside in recent times; spare a thought for all the openers trying to make it to the squad. But no one's exclusion is more striking than that of Sadagoppan Ramesh.

The Tamil Nadu opener, who was part of the Indian squad that performed so well in Australia, has since not even made the India 'A' squad.

In the last Test series -- three Tests against Sri Lanka in 2001 -- that Ramesh played, he had scores of 42 (182 minutes) and 2, 47 (152 minutes) and 31 (157 minutes), 46 (158 minutes) and 55 (229 minutes) respectively. Reasonably good. More importantly, he spent time at the wicket -- something he was guilty of not doing in the early part of his career -- and saw off the new ball.

In the first match of the Australia tour against Victoria, the left-hander concentrated for four-and-a-half hours to score 87 off 191 balls, which was inclusive of 10 fours. It was highest score by an Indian in that match. But Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag batted superbly throughout the tour to keep Ramesh on the sidelines. Given the way the duo batted it would have been hard for anyone to breakthrough.

But what has Ramesh done wrong? From being the third best opener in the country, suddenly he does not even find a place in India 'A' squad.

Instead of giving him a chance, the team management has preferred converting a middle-order batsman to an opener. If they keep doing that, a day will come when we won't have batsmen capable of playing in the middle-order.

The selectors have to realize that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly aren't going to be around forever and when they retire we will need batsmen who can hold their own in the middle-order. We will need the Yuvrajs and Kaifs then. Certainly, the importance of planning for the future seems lost on the selectors.

The Indian middle-order is packed with talented and experienced batsmen. On the face of it, but for injury, it is hard to see Yuvraj Singh or Mohammad Kaif breaking into the playing eleven unless it is on the back on scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket. So why are they being forced to bat in positions they are uncomfortable in?

One of the main reasons Australia is doing so well in international cricket is because their selectors are not afraid to take tough decisions. Right from the pressure exerted on Steve Waugh towards the fag end of his career to the dropping of Michael Bevan from the One-Day International squad, even when he still had the best average in the world, the Aussies have shown that they are ready to do what is best for the team.

Sanjay Bangar, with a Test average of 29.37, has scores of 77 and 0, 1 and 12, 1 and 7 (the last four innings were played on the wretched tour of New Zealand) in his last three Tests. S S Das, with a Test average of 34.89, may someday still play for India again. Ramesh, with a Test average of 37.97, hasn't done his chances any harm either, while Gautam Gambhir, with a first class average of 55.85, is yet to make his Test debut though he's been on the fringe of selection for ages.

You can see that the cupboard is certainly not bare. India has plenty of options for the openers' slot. What is needed is tough decisions by the selectors. One fears they are not doing that because they are too scared to ruffle feathers. It is time they realize that this culture of 'will make do' is just not right for Indian cricket.