Yuvraj Singh

Calcutta: Indifferent form notwithstanding, former captain Rahul Dravid is set to be retained for the two-Test series against England.

The Team India XV will be selected in Chennai on Thursday afternoon.

Chennai (from December 11) and Mohali (December 19 onwards) are the new venues, after Ahmedabad and Mumbai got struck off.

“Rahul’s class is not in question and my impression is that the selectors wouldn’t like to write him off before giving him another series,” a well-placed source told The Telegraph on Wednesday night.

The source confirmed that Sourav Ganguly’s retirement was working in Dravid’s favour. “Suddenly, the middle-order is without the experience of somebody with over 100 Tests under his belt. All the more reason why Rahul has to be there.”

For the record, Dravid averaged under 18 in the last series, versus Australia, and less than 25 in the one before that (in Sri Lanka).

It’s Yuvraj Singh who stands to directly benefit from one-time mentor Sourav’s retirement. After a terrific run in the ODIs against England, his return is as good as guaranteed.

A regular in limited overs cricket, Yuvraj has played only 23 Tests in an India career which began a shade over eight years ago.

One learns there could, however, be much debate over the reserve middle-order batsman’s berth.

Subramaniam Badrinath was in the squad during the series versus Australia, but he has stiff competition from the in-form Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma, who has been projected as a star of the future.

With 681 runs in just six Ranji Trophy innings this season, the 20-year-old Saurashtrian is much the dark horse.

Actually, if form gets maximum weightage, then Pujara can’t be left out.

Four bowlers — Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra; Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma — pick themselves. Four are in contention for the two remaining berths.

Munaf Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh for the extra medium-pacer’s one; Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla for the third spinner’s berth.

It seems Munaf and Ojha are somewhat better-placed, but this could change overnight.

LIKELY XV

(As of Wednesday night)

Openers: Virender Sehwag (Vice-Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay

Middle-order: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath/Cheteshwar Pujara/Rohit Sharma

Wicket-keeper: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.)

Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha/Piyush Chawla

Medium-pacers: Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel/Rudra Pratap Singh