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Sidhu back in ODI squad

After one hour of deliberations, preceeded by informal consultations with captain Sachin Tendulkar and coach Anshuman Gaikwad, the national selectors on Friday evening announced the 14-member squad to tour Sharjah for the four-nation Champions Trophy to begin next week.

The lineup reads: Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly, Ajay Jadeja (vice captain), Robin Singh, Vinod Kambli, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvilla, Syed Saba Karim (wicketkeeper), Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rajesh Chauhan.

Notable absentees from the team that toured -- with considerable success -- Toronto and Pakistan earlier this year were Debashish Mohanty, Nilesh Kulkarni and Hrishikesh Kanitkar.

The most notable entries were Navjot Singh Sidhu to open, and Vinod Kambli in the middle order berth.

And the most drastic change in lineup is the demotion of Sachin Tendulkar to number four, while Sidhu will open.

Explaining the decision, chairman of the selectors Ramakant Desai said that Sidhu's electric fielding during the ongoing Pepsi Series (a standout performance for which he is already being dubbed "Jonty Singh") had helped gain him the berth. Sidhu will, Desai indicated, open alongside Ganguly, with instructions to take full advantage of field restrictions in the first 15 overs.

"It was felt that Tendulkar is being wasted at the top of the order, and that he would be more useful to the side in the middle order," Desai added.

This reverses the earlier thinking, which held that Tendulkar by virtue of his uninhibited strokeplay was best fitted to give India a flying start in the first 15 overs. In fact, the Tendulkar-Ganguly combination has been the most successful of all pairings tried out in the last year and a half.

What is more interesting, however, is the extension of the batting lineup following the entry of Sidhu. With Sidhu and Ganguly to open, Dravid at one drop, Tendulkar at number four, Azharuddin at number five, Jadeja at six, Robin Singh at seven and Syed Saba Karim at eight, that leaves just three berths for regular bowlers, who in all probability will be Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.

This in turn means that the other twenty overs will have to be bowled by Saurav Ganguly and Robin Singh.

In other words, Ganguly and Robin have been elevated to regular bowlers -- and there is absolutely no cover (barring the option of Tendulkar turning his arm over) in case one or the other bowler has an off day.

Earlier, when Tendulkar opened with Ganguly, Azhar and Dravid made the rest of the batting, Jadeja, Robin and Karim weighed in with the bat in the latter overs, and the additional slot was used to accomodate the extra bowler. That composition meant that 40 overs were taken care of by regular bowlers, with Robin Singh and Saurav Ganguly fulfilling the function of fifth bowler and covering for any of the frontliners who happened to have a bad day.

Flexibility of bowling, thus, appears to be the serious drawback to this team composition.

What this also means is that in all likelihood, Abey Kuruvilla, Rajesh Chauhan and Vinod Kambli become mere passengers, until and unless one of the playing eleven is dropped for injury, illness or lack of form.

For the record, the Akai Singer Champions Trophy, to be played under lights for the first time in Sharjah, begin on December 11, with India taking on England in the lung-opener. All games begin at 1400 IST.