Indian team for Kolkata, Nagpur Tests to be picked tomorrow

[1]

The Indian squad for the third andfourth cricket Tests against England to be played in Kolkata and Nagpur will be picked here tomorrow, the BCCI said today.

"The selection committee meeting is to be held tomorrow (in Mumbai) to choose the teams for the next two Tests," informed Cricket Board's secretary and meeting convener, Sanjay Jagdale.

If captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will be part of the selection panel discussions without a vote along with coach Duncan Fletcher, has his way, not many changes are expected in the composition of the squad for the next two games.

"Not much. We have replacements but you don't chop and change or rotate the players just on the basis of one or two Test matches. You have to give them a fair run. That’s what it's all about," Dhoni said after India suffered a humiliating 10-wicket loss in the second Test here.

"Otherwise we will keep changing players in every game. So it's good to give the players a fair amount of games so that they are also comfortable and are not thinking about the selection," said Dhoni.

Indian spin trio of Pragyan Ojha, Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh allowed rival captain Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen to rattle up a double century stand to help England cross 400 on a helpful track in the second Test.

This may provide some thinking on the part of selectors to have a look at the option of a leg-spinner being drafted into the squad to provide the spin department more variety and the front runners if this view gets support are Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla.

The star-studded Indian batting also failed to click, barring Cheteshwar Pujara's classy 135 in the first innings total of 327 and Gautam Gambhir's return to some form in the disastrous second innings with an innings of 65 out of 142.

But, with Dhoni exuding confidence that his batsmen will come to the party for the remaining games, there may not be many changes in this department too.

The third Test begins from December 5 while the fourth Test will be played between December 13 and 17.