Whichever pair opens the innings for India in the deciding Test at Rawalpindi, the team's morale has been dented.
India's defeat in the second Test at Lahore was probably not as demoralising as the controversy kicked up by skipper Sourav Ganguly's statements about the opening slots.
True, India has to pull out all stops to win the Test and the series. True, you cannot drop a batsman Yuvraj Singh who has scored a century and a half-century in the three attempts he has got in a series.
But for a minute let's ignore the merits and demerits of Yuvraj's case and focus on Akash Chopra's plight.
What does it do to a player when he reads in the newspapers that his skipper wants him out? Then, for the next few days, all that he is asked about is the opening slot. A failure in the first innings in Lahore, the first time he has been dismissed for a single-digit score in the first innings of a Test, is followed by a failure in the second innings. And the daggers are out.
Ganguly says he will play and so will Yuvraj Singh. He does not mention, however, that Chopra will not play.
One day before leaving for Rawalpindi, the skipper tells Mid-Day, a Mumbai tabloid, "Positive cricket is the need of the hour. The Australians play their cricket positively. And so does Sehwag. He scored a triple hundred in [even] time. That really sets up the game and it is a similar thing with Yuvraj. He got a Test hundred in just 120-130 balls.
"But at the same time you cannot take away what Akash Chopra has done for the team. These three will be the top order batsmen for quite some time to come."
The same evening Chopra is walking around the hotel lobby with a question mark about his future bigger than his appetite to stay put at the crease. He stops to talk to a teammate and the first question he gets is, "Any news on the composition?"
It is not the only such encounter he has had this week. The buzz about the opener's slot is as loud in the Indian camp as in the media.
There is no denying that Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag could go on to form an exciting and successful opening combination. With Test series against Australia at home, the Punjab left-hander may succeed beyond expectation.
But couldn't this issue have been handled differently? Couldn't Ganguly have waited before making statements about Yuvraj's inclusion in the team for the third Test?
The Chopra we have seen over the last six months is nothing if not a product of confidence, of the backing he received from his skipper and his teammates. His ability to stay long hours at the wicket was what won him accolades from both the media and the pundits.
Suddenly that very strength has become a liability.
The Chopra we saw in the second innings of the Lahore Test was a man condemned irrespective of whether he clicked or failed. What kind of precedent does this set?
True, international teams do not succeed on emotion. But then neither do they succeed on reputation and rank.
If you must be a ruthless professional, pick your eleven on form. Therein lies the answer to all such selection problems.
