Team selection is purely on merit: Vengsarkar

8220;We pick a player on his form and fitness. And purely on merit. You watch cricket and you know how well the person is batting, whether he is in form or not,8221; he was quoted as saying by 8216;cricinfo8217;.

He, however, refused to elaborate what he meant by out-of-form.

8220;When you pick a player it means you believe in him, unless he proves you wrong. But that is very rare,8221; he said, adding 8220;you can8217;t put numbers to it. For instance, say that if the player does not perform for five games, he is out. You cannot do that8221;.

Asked if it was difficult to drop a senior player, Vengsarkar said, 8220;there is nothing like senior, junior or middle-aged guys. Just because someone is a youngster, he won8217;t be getting half-volleys in international cricket.

Everyone has to be picked on merit, form and fitness.8221;

On who would take the place of Rahul Dravid, who was a regular in the middle order, Vengsarkar said, 8220;at this stage Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir are there and waiting in the wings are Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma. So we have a lot of options8221;.