On the sidelines of the Mumbai-Hyderabad Ranji game on Wednesday, there were enough signs to suggest it was the eve of the selection committee meeting to pick the Test squad. Sachin Tendulkar had a hectic session just metres from the boundary line during the last session of play, and at stumps, the Hyderabad team management was busy telling everybody that VVS Laxman was not missing the game because of a heel injury, as announced earlier.

Before the Ranji game had started, Hyderabad coach Kanwaljit Singh had said that it was the shooting pain in Laxman’s right heel that had forced him to avoid the Mumbai trip. “He batted with a runner in the last game,” Kanwaljit had said on Monday. Team physio Vijay Bhartiya had even given details about the injury to the media.

But a day before the selectors were to sit at Chennai to pick the squad for the two Tests against England, there was a U-turn. The day started with the Hyderabad Cricket Association issuing a press release saying that Laxman was missing the game because of personal reasons (it must be recalled that Laxman’s second child was born a day before the Hyderabad team landed in Mumbai), and it ended with coach Kanwaljit saying that he was misquoted.

With doubts over Laxman’s fitness now cleared, the selection committee meeting in Chennai on Thursday is expected to go on predictable lines. Keeping in mind India’s triumph over world champions Australia in the last series, no surprises look to be on the cards. The one change that is inevitable is in the middle-order, which will be without Sourav Ganguly who retired during the final Test against Australia at Nagpur.

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