By Ashis Ray, IANS
London : From all indications, Rudra Pratap Singh is a shoo-in to share the new ball with Zaheer Khan and S. Sreesanth in the first Test against England starting Thursday at Lord's.
Indeed, the briskness and bounce Singh has revealed of late could become an examination for the Englishmen.
It also appears that Mahendra Singh Dhoni may get the nod ahead of Yuvraj Singh, thus leaving Dinesh Karthik to concentrate on his batting. He and Wasim Jaffer have a crucial role to play in seeing off the new ball.
Anil Kumble is likely to be the sole specialist slow bowler in the Indian team.
The new ball for England is likely to be utilised by former Yorkshire mates Mathew Hoggard and left-hander Ryan Sidebottom, who has now moved to Nottinghamshire. Both are capable of swinging the ball late and would pose the primary challenge to the Indian batsmen, especially in overcast conditions.
It will, however, be unwise for the touring side to underestimate left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.
In the pre-match mind games, though, the Indians are rubbing it in that the hosts will be weakened by the absence of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison.
But with the England batting on song, particularly Kevin Pietersen could punish any waywardness on the part of the Indian seamers.
The Indian outcricket is noticeably unathletic, so their close catchers cannot afford any lapses.
The 1990s were terrible for Indian cricket.
Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman rendered service during this period, in harness for the second half of the decade.
Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad were as good in tandem as any in India's history, not to mention Anil Kumble, statistically, the country's most clinical bowler ever.
Yet, India could not win a single away series, other than in Sri Lanka.
Why?
There was no coach to blend the talent into a match-winning team!
The disorganisation ended with the appointment of New Zealand's John Wright as national coach. He introduced science and systems. Indeed, it's doubtful if Ganguly would have achieved his success as captain without the analytical, practical and therapeutic off-match support provided by the former Kiwi opener and skipper.
The contribution of coaching at the international level has become increasingly sophisticated and essential to the well being of a side. If anybody thinks India can be competitive in this day and age without a proper coach, such a person is talking through his hat.
Admittedly, there is very little you can teach an established cricketer. But to suggest that there's nothing to impart to them or to younger, developing players, is fallacious.
In the brave new world of Indian cricket, a touring party has been despatched to take on the second ranked Test unit in the world in the latter's den without a head coach.
Several of the Indians, who were put up before media Tuesday, including Tendulkar and Ganguly, glossed over the handicap in a well tutored fashion by citing that Chandu Borde, the cricket manager, was looking after batting and Prasad and Robin Singh, bowling and fielding, as designated from the visit to Bangladesh.
They pointed to the success over South Africa in Belfast in conditions favouring the latter's fast bowlers. The senior players at least should know there is a vast difference in demands in one-day internationals as compared to Test matches.
It appears, though, that the Indians are a relatively relaxed lot and the fear factor among some of the players created by Greg Chappell's prickly style of functioning seems to have evaporated.
The week ahead, which could be partly wet, will illustrate whether this state of comfort is a recipe for success or failure.