The sixth batsman

The big selection question on this tour of England will be whether to play five batsmen or six. Despite Rahul Dravid's frequently expressed desire to play five bowlers, given his bowling resources on this tour and the need to have runs on the board, he'll go with six batsmen. Karthik, Dravid and Tendulkar are certainties. On the evidence of the Bangladesh tour, Ganguly has his place in the team nailed down and the chances are that Wasim Jaffer will keep his place as a specialist opener.

The sixth spot, in recent times, has been a toss-up between VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. I hope Laxman's 95 against Sussex wins him the nod, though given his luck with selectors there's no telling. Dravid played Yuvraj ahead of Laxman in the second and third Tests the last time we played England, at home. This time round, given Dravid's early endorsement, Laxman's prospects look better.

But it doesn't have to be an either/or choice between the two. If Dhoni's poor form with the bat persists into the first Test at Lord's, Dravid might want to review the luxury of carrying two wicketkeepers in his batting card. In which case, for the second Test, Dhoni could make way for Yuvraj batting at seven.

I don't think Yuvraj has the technique to claim a place in the top six of our Test team, leave alone the top five (against England in the drawn series he batted, astonishingly enough, at five) but coming in five wickets down, with (hopefully) a substantial total to build on, he could do real damage in quick time with the tail.

Dravid, always keen to play five bowlers, would have the minor bonus of half an extra bowler: Yuvraj's left arm slows would add some variety to the Indian 'attack'. This way Dravid could have Yuvraj's electric heels at point and the reassurance of Laxman's safe hands in the slips.

Gambhir's quick eighty puts him in contention should Jaffer fail in the first Test. I hope it doesn't come to that because despite his inconsistency and his maddening habit of scoring a hundred and doing nothing for the next half-a-dozen innings, Jaffer looks a Test batsman and Gambhir doesn't. Gambhir looks like a cut-rate Kambli: all flash and firm-footed flourish.

So, for the first Test: Karthik, Jaffer, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Dhoni, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Kumble and RP Singh. This is the team that I think will be picked: but if Dravid wants extra batting oomph, a bowling option and the team's best outfielder, he'll pick Yuvraj over Dhoni and make Karthik open and keep wickets.

Historically, Indian keepers have managed both jobs well: think of Faroukh Engineer, Budhi Kunderan, and, more recently, Nayan Mongia. It would be wonderful if Dravid went further and chose another spinner over RP Singh, and he has indicated that one spinner or two will depend on the pitch, but my guess is that for the first Test of an English tour, his instinct will be to go with three seamers.

In the end, though, we need to play to our strengths, and realistically, we have just one: batting. If the skipper plays as well as he did the last time India toured England, and the rest of them just reproduce their career averages, we should win. That isn't wishfulness, you know, just sensible, temperate hope.