When I initially heard the BCCI's squad of probables for the Australian tour, I could spot two gaping big holes in it, one which probably could not be helped and the second which I put down to dumb-headedness of the selection committee. Later, when the final squad was picked, out of the blue came in one of my picks, who wasn't even in the list of probables, and I couldn't help but applaud the selectors for once. Picking someone who wasn't in the probables sounds dumb but doing the right thing even at the risk of looking dumb is praiseworthy.

Sreesanth and Virender Sehwag are by no means my favorite players but they were on the top of my list of "must have" players for the Australian tour. The Australian tour is probably the toughest among all tours even if the last time round, we did very well out there. However, let us not forget that it was an Australian team without Warne, McGrath and Lee (for most of the tour). While the first two will still not be there, the difference is that this time the replacements play knowing that they are playing for permanent places and not for short-term till the big boys are back. That is not comparable to last time when a raw Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams led the attack knowing that they were just getting the benefit of some injuries going their way. This time the attack with Lee leading and the Shaun Taits and the Mitchell Johnsons straining at the leash to leave their mark sounds a much better attack than last time. Similarly with the Husseys and Michael Clarks putting up their hands, the batting has a pretty solid look to it too. To get through this tour and still remain standing, we need something extra, something different, something that Sreesanth and Sehwag can provide.

Where Sehwag is concerned, simply put he is a player who can swing the match India's way in the first two sessions of the match. In this entire team, probably he is the only one today who is capable of single handedly smashing apart the opposition. Yes, he has had a terrible time of it in the recent past but most of it has been in the ODI format where he has been a misfit through his career. His recent test record hasn't been sparkling but his career record against all opposition home and abroad suggests that he is a one man army, something the Indians can ill afford to ignore. Against Australia, if the Indians play standard cricket, they will lose. They need to play extra-ordinary cricket and no one defines extra-ordinary cricket better than Sehwag. Again, picking him does not mean he will score but then India needed to take this gamble because the day it comes off, the match will swing India's way.

Sehwag must open; there is no doubt in my mind about that. He might have been taken as the third opener after Jaffer and Karthick but for me, the fight really is for the second opener's slot which Jaffer on current form should take. The first slot definitely belongs to the most successful opener India has had since Gavaskar, though the styles of both couldn't be more different.

In Sreesanth's case, he is injured and that is unfortunate. However, I hope that the BCCI selection committee will have the common sense to re-evaluate his fitness a couple of weeks down the line, and if possible send him over even if it is for the third test or so. Sreesanth brings with him that extra aggro, recently much reviled in the media, and that is necessary for a tour where we have perpetually gone as lambs to the slaughter.

The series is going to be excellent; pundits will call it "Sehwag's last chance" and other such clichés. While I and all followers of Indian cricket know nothing is ever a "last chance" here, we will all be hoping Sehwag grabs this one.