The Jaipur Form Book

THE MIDDLEMAN
Dinesh Mongia has been out of the reckoning since flopping in the 2003 World Cup. A serious part of Sourav Ganguly’s original Men in Blue, Mongia hit a chanceless unbeaten 135 batting at number four to push his case. With Ganguly out for the Safs Test series and Yuvraj Singh disappointing in the few chances he’s got so far, Mongia could return from the wilderness for one more shot.

THE KEEPER
Dinesh Kaarthick’s showing in the Mumbai Test against Australia was good enough to keep him in the reckoning for some time, and Parthiv’s Ranji debut was good. But Bihar’s M S Dhoni continued his impressive early career with a strokeful 39 — six fours and a six — to add his name to the list of alternatives.

THE OPENERS
Dheeraj Jadhav, Gautam Gambhir and Sadagopan Ramesh, the three openers picked in the BP XI team, disappointed. Gambhir (26) is in any case in the First Test team but wouldn’t have boosted Rahul Dravid’s confidence. Jadhav (12) and Ramesh (9) fared worse