When East Zone keeper Wridhiman Saha was chosen as understudy to Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the Test leg of India's tour to England earlier this year, it raised a few eyebrows, but one thought it was just a one-time thing.  That Saha played only one tour match and had a batting average of exactly zero in his one innings further indicated that his selection was not based on merit.

Now on the equally important and challenging tour to Australia once again Parthiv Patel has been shut out, and Saha picked.  The selection makes no sense on several levels.  First of all Parthiv Patel is in superb knick both with bat and behind the stumps.  In his last Ranji trophy match, captaining Gujarat, he scored his second consecutive century and made seven dismissals behind the stumps. 

Secondly, Patel would have been ideal to fill in a dual role, that of back up keeper and back up opener.  The seventeen member squad selected is rightly heavy on pace bowlers, who are both needed and likely to break down on a longish 4 Test match tour.  This means that the selectors have not chosen any back up for the two front line openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.  If one of them should not be available to play a Test, one of the three young middle order batsmen, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Ajinkya Rahane will be pressed into the opener's role, unless that selfless servant of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid, is roped in to do the job instead.  Neither scenario is ideal, and having a player who has opened in Test cricket successfully, like Parthiv Patel around, would have been a great insurance policy.

Finally, the message it sends to players like Patel and others who play their hearts out, and do everything and more to knock the selectoral doors down, is that the Captain's insecurities will be given greater deference than doing what is right for the team.  One gets the distinct impression that Captain Dhoni is afraid of friendly competition.  This is the only logical explanation for the continuing selection of Wridhiman Saha as back-up Test keeper instead of the more qualified and much more experienced Parthiv Patel.

Afterall, Dhoni has looked distinctly out of his depth as a batsman, whenever the ball has moved around a bit either in the air or off the pitch.  Parthiv Patel in contrast has looked most secure playing in such conditions.  It would be too obvious to say that Dhoni nixed his selection, but it certainly makes one wonder, why a player who hails from the same zone as the captain and has played exactly 1 Test and 3 ODIs is considered the ideal back up to the captain, when such a well qualified player for that role is ignored.

At least the selectors have picked Parthiv as the sole wicket keeper for the upcoming 5 ODIs against West Indies, and barring injury or a total loss of form, he will play all the games.  However, with Gambhir and Sehwag and Rahane all in the side, he is likely to be demoted from his role as opener to No. 6 or 7 in the batting line up, and considering the weak West Indies attack, he is not likely to get to bat much in the series.  If he has to impress it will be with the gloves, behind the stumps.  Inadvertently this could be a real godsend for him as the only question about him has been his glovework.  His batting and his fighting spirit were never in question. 

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