Questions over Dhoni

But what of Dhoni? In Bangladesh he kept his Test spot thanks to a Man-of-the-Series performance in the preceding one-dayers, but he's done little of note to be sure of a place here. One can point to his 76 at Chelmsford, or even his buccaneering 139 not out against Africa XI at Chennai, but the conditions were nowhere near as demanding as they will be at Lord's.

What's more worrying is Dhoni's decline behind the stumps. He was never a natural wicketkeeper, starting off as a football goalie, and it was mainly thanks to his persistence that he improved in that department. There was a period early in his career when he gave up batting for one whole year just to get better with the gloves. He showed considerable improvement last season but the fumbles have reappeared recently. He has struggled so far in the tour games, often parrying the ball rather than waiting for it, and his grassed chances off Andy Hodd and Robin Martin-Jenkins at Hove and Stuart Broad at Chelmsford, all straightforward ones at international level, would definitely get the team management thinking.

Making his job harder is Dinesh Karthik's presence in the team as a specialist batsman. Karthik is the more agile wicketkeeper and is better standing up to Anil Kumble's bouncy offerings. There will surely be a temptation to ask him to keep as well as bat. It would no doubt add to his burden - squatting all day before opening the batting can't be easy - but it would also allow the team a chance to play the extra batsman in Yuvraj.