I agree with Sanjay that Vijay being an opener would be natural no. 3 fit for next game. However, for the long run, I am intrigued by the continued "overlooking" of Mohd. Kaif. Kaif not only most recently has hit successive centuries in Duleep Trophy, but has played the likes of Flintoff & co. in tests at home (remember he hit 90 odd but was dropped the next test to avoid the conundrum of dropping him or Laxman to keep out of form Tendulkar in team), hit test century in West Indies, and done well in pot boiler one day matches be it South Africa World Cup, England or Pakistan. I understand he and Badri are in the same mold which makes it tricky. However, I am perplexed with Rohit Sharma getting a call over Kaif. Rohit is a great bet for future, but if we follow the Hayden & Hussey model of proving themselves in domestic cricket, or watching Gambhir mature in domestic cricket before blossoming on world stage, by that logic Kaif and Badri should be given nod. Kaif over Yuvraj in tests!

Everybody's talking about Sehwag being the decisive factor. I agree with that, but based on the unpredictability of Sehwag's batting he can never provide assurance. I feel that Gambhir and Sachin are the key figures in this Indian batting line up without Dravid or may be VVS. They provide assurance in any situations. If they can pull out their best performance, this series has only one winner. At the same time, if they fail badly I am afraid, not only India would lose the series but also the ranking. But, I strongly wish fire crackers from Sehwag which are aesthetic to watch!!

The rankings system looks dodgy now that there is no longer any CLEAR CUT BEST team in the world for the 1st time in many many yrs. The first time questions about the rankings came up was when Ind beat Aus 2-0 and they looked very beatable for the 1st time in the decade. I think form more than anything will decide series between Ind, Aus and SA for the next 4 yrs. or so. I am backing Badrinath, if he does well, I think Ind should shelf emotion and pick him above Laxman for the sake of SMOOTHER TRANSITION. I think that once they bat with patience they could cover for the lack of experience. It's key that the pitches either turn or seam, rather than be flat and lifeless like they were for the Sri-Lanka vs Ind series. This will allow a closer examination of 2 of the 3 best teams.

Sehwag's average against SA at home is misleading. More than half of his 634 runs have come in one single innings. Take away that outlier of 319 and his average is actually a much more mortal 45.00. I am a little surprised that this seems to have been ignored by Manjrekar. I actually believe that given his recent form Gautam Gambhir will prove to be the more decisive factor in this series.

Dravid is the batsman with the best record against SA. I think India will miss him the most. As discussed by Manjrekar, SA is also capable of putting up 500+ totals in India with Smith and Kallis. This will be a genuine test of Indian bowlers on flat pitches if they can take 20 SA wickets relatively cheaply. I see only Zaheer Khan as capable of getting a 5-for but the pitch won't favor him. How India fares will be dependant on how effective the Indian spinners can be. Unfortunately as Laxman said, they don't seem to have the class or penetration of the past.

Sehwag's success will be a major factor in deciding this series. He dictates the game to any bowling side. With Morkel & Steyn bowlong at 150 KMPH, it is imperative that Sehwag stays there long enough to get the team batting rolling. Sachin will have to hold the middle order batting together with a big score and Dhoni will have to hold the rest of the team together with his usual useful score. These 3 will be the major batsment helping India's batting in absence of Dravid & Laxman. This does not mean that Gambhir, Vijay, Badri & Rohit will not contribute. In fact if Gambhir can play his usual consistent innings it will put India on the winning path. India will find it hard to take 20 SA wickets with their present bowling strength.Mishra or Ojha will have to do a great job due to off form Harbhajan. Zahir is the other Indian bowler who can take wickets. SA has a very balanced side with strong batting, bowling & fielding. It will be tough for India to win. Drawn series is most likely.

I don't understand Manjarekar's statement about the ranking. If both India and SA have reached here by playing good cricket how come Australia be the best team? They are best team in ODI from July 2009 (17 win, 3 loses). Interestingly same Aus had a poor ODI record in first half of 2009 (8 wins, 11 losses). In test they have won two series against two weak teams recently (at times those two teams streched them enough). A person of Manjarekar's exp should not mix up two diff formats. Pak is a fancy T20 team but fails miserably in tests. Fact is also that India has more settled and better test team than ODI. Of course none of the top teams are a clearly dominant force. But, going by current form (last 18 months) these two a best test teams going around.

The absence of Dravid and Yuvraj are positive things for different things. Dravid's absence will really create the openings for Next.3 batsman who will take the reins of the middle order after fab 4 are gone. What better an opportunity when the team is on song on a 18 month unbeaten stretch and on home turf and all the batsmen in great form? After this series one of the fab 4 must be rested in each match, unless it is a very critical match. Badrinath/Kohli/Raina must get the place and be groomed well in advance to avoid Australia's predicament post Warne/McGrath.

Yuvraj's injury gives an ideal chance for the management to rethink his place in the team. When there are plenty of talented test players on the bench, how long are we going to tolerate Singh's horrible performance in Tests? I wish Yuvraj focuses on ODI and T20 and gives up the test berth to Murali Vijay who rightly deserves.