Panesar Will Tour India

Alan Hansen recalled that he was most motivated for the away matches Liverpool played against sides north of the border in the European Cup. Hussain has an excellent record in India and Pietersen burst onto the international scene in South Africa. Clearly sportsmen are invariably inspired when they play in the country of their forefathers.

This is just one of the reasons why the selectors have made the right choice in picking Monty Panesar for the England tour of India. The main reason though is his ability. The Pakistan tour showed that England lacked penetration in the spin department and while the batting skills of both Alex Loudon and Ian Blackwell make them good choices on pitches which may or may not assist the spinners, they would be poor selection choices for the India tour.

Much has been made of Panesar's lack of prowess with the bat, but with Shaud Udal shoring up the tail-end the England batting will not be fatally weakened if Panesar replaces Hoggard, Jones or Harmison. The new headache for the selectors is to decide which seam bowler he should replace.