Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the first small-town cricketer to captain an Indian team. With Dravid, Sachin and Saurav dropping out of the team, and Yuvraj Singh no longer seen as the next in line, there are few who can argue with the choice. Even though the fighting rise of Dinesh Kaarthick may have made his spot in the Test team a little less secure, he is probably the first name down of the team sheet as far as Twenty20 is concerned. Hopefully he will carry captaincy with confidence, because that will have a cascading effect on his batting - and the world has only started to notice how a mature Dhoni can add a lot of punch to the Indian Test lower order.

Being selected for the Twenty20 squad has also enabled Pathan, Harbhajan and Sehwag to get a foot in the door. But not too fast either as all three have been overlooked for the ODIs against England. More joy for the Pathan family as Yusuf Pathan, described as an offie who is a useful lower order bat, has also been included in the Twenty20 squad. Not very surprisingly, Sreesanth has been dropped from the ODI team. Munaf makes a return in his place.
inexplicably, the pace bowling cupboard continues to promise. India now have Zaheer, R P Singh, Pathan, Sreesanth, Munaf and Ajit Agarkar to choose from, depending on form and requirement.