As Gautam Gambhir listlessly stroked a few throw downs from net bowlers at the practice arena, Robin Uthappa was on the central 22 yards doing his usual pre-match visualisation method made famous by Matthew Hayden.

With a bat in hand and eyes widened, Uthappa fantasised drawing parabolas with the ball while Gambhir was picturing the prospect of not being picked for the best XI that India finalised for tomorrow’s final game against the West Indies.

And with Rahul Dravid announcing that it will be Sourav Ganguly who will open with Uthappa while naming the XI, the World Cup’s daily sweepstakes got another update. With Suresh Raina, S Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar to warm the bench with Gambhir it wasn’t tough to figure out who was feeling the heat days before the World Cup squad is announced.

And if one opted to read between the lines when Dravid spoke, the probability of Sreesanth making it to the West Indies diminished.

“Sree’s a young bowler and is competing for a spot on the side as anyone is. He’s finding out it’s not that easy to bowl on Indian wickets. He’s got to keep learning and improving,” he said about the bowler who was a revelation in the away Tests but was found wanting in ODIs at home.

That came just after Dravid had said that it was heartening to see Munaf Patel bowling at his best at nets.

With Munaf passing his fitness test with flying colours, the focus now shifts to Irfan Pathan’s judgement day. Trust Dravid to use the right words when it comes to tricky questions. Since the skipper watched Pathan for the first time after the pacer’s premature departure from South Africa, he was asked to do an instant assessment.

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