Kevin Pietersen's immediate England future will be decided on Tuesday when the selectors meet in a Manchester hotel to finalise the tour squad for India.
Kevin Pietersen's immediate England future will be decided on Tuesday when the selectors meet in a Manchester hotel to finalise the tour squad for India.
The panel, chaired by national selector Geoff Miller, will be told by Andy Flower, the head coach, whether Pietersen is one of the players to be considered for selection.
Flower and Hugh Morris, the England managing director, will have made a call on whether Pietersen can be included after consulting Alastair Cook, the new Test captain.
The selectors will be presented with a list of names to discuss by Flower who will then be advised on the form of those on the fringes of selection he will not have seen much of this summer such as Yorkshire's Joe Root, Somerset's Nick Compton and Monty Panesar.
It appears unlikely Pietersen's name will be included when the squad is announced probably on Thursday as England depart for the World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka.
Last week the England & Wales Cricket Board did not award Pietersen a central contract, the strongest indication yet that he would not be part of the squad for India. Both sides have accepted there are complicated issues to resolve which may take the rest of the year given England's packed winter schedule.
Flower has had to weigh up the positive impact Pietersen's runs would have on the side's fortunes against the importance of team unity. The deep divisions between Pietersen and his England colleagues appear to show little sign of healing.
Pietersen is believed to have told Flower last week about his suspicions that Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and James Anderson were involved in a parody twitter account, KP Genius, which poked fun at his personality.
Broad has issued a statement denying any involvement, Swann took to twitter to do likewise while Anderson's agent dismissed the suggestion out of hand.
Flower has accepted he should have "nipped in the bud" the fact the players were reading the twitter posts but at the same time still wants to hear from Pietersen full disclosure of the text conversations and evidence he is committed to England in the long term.
Pietersen's runs will clearly be missed. He averages 40 in India and a top six without him would leave only Cook and Ian Bell with experience of playing Test cricket there. Cook has a good record in India following a century on debut in Nagpur in 2006 and half centuries in each Test on the 2008 tour.
Bell's problems with spin in the sub-continent have dogged his career with one fifty in ten Test innings in India. A complicating factor is that his first child is due during the Test tour meaning he may have to fly home and miss a Test. The fact Eoin Morgan was awarded a central contract last week despite not playing a Test all summer confirms his place on the tour with Jonny Bairstow also set to be picked.
Flower checked out Joe Root's progress with Yorkshire last week and the young opener could be the spare batsman in the squad with Jonathan Trott likely to step into the opener's role vacated by Andrew Strauss.
Root has had a good season for Yorkshire with a double hundred adding to an average in the Championship close to 50. He has also received good reports from the England Lions coaches, a key factor as far as Flower is concerned.
Ravi Bopara was last night left out of the Twenty20 side at Old Trafford. Rain delayed the start but that could not save Bopara whose horrendous form with the bat must put his chances of touring India in doubt.
England will prepare for the India tour in the same fashion as for an Ashes contest and have three warm-up matches before the first Test starting in Ahmedabad on Nov 15.
They have attempted to squeeze in this summer extra batting practice against the turning ball but the real homework will begin at the end of October on a training camp at the International Cricket Council's academy in Dubai built into the itinerary as a stop over on the way to India.
A tour to India challenges players in many ways and on the last tour there in 2008 team unity was put to the stress over the decision whether to continue after terror attacks in Mumbai and internal war between Pietersen and the coach, Peter Moores.
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