Bangalore: Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell has sought to put his players on notice ahead of important tournaments leading to the World Cup, saying any complacency on their part will leave the door open for others to sneak into the side.
Chappell said anyone who could "offer something" to the team would be considered for selection and pointed out Dinesh Mongia's return for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka as an example.
"They (players) will select themselves in or select themselves out just on their performances. We need to be vigilant as a group and each of the players has to be vigilant as an individual and make sure they don't get complacent and leave the door open for someone else," the former Australian captain said.
"You look at anyone that can offer something to the team. The minute you close your eyes or shut the door on someone you can make a mistake. We have to be open-minded and use all of the resources that we've got," he told cricinfo website.
Chappell's comments could sound music to players like Zaheer Khan and Sourav Ganguly, seeking to make a comeback to the side after falling out of favour with selectors.
Chappell said the message from the selection of Mongia, making a comeback after one year in wilderness, was that no-one was totally out of the team and no-one's totally in.
"We probably have something like 25 players to choose from and that is a healthy position to be in. Obviously they can't all play at once and some are going to miss out. I suppose the message from Mongia's selection is that no-one is totally out of it and no-one's totally in."
However, Chappell said it would be reading too much into things to suggest Mongia's selection indicated a change in the policy regarding selection.
"Yeah, that's reading too much into it. He's an experienced player and has had some opportunities. Just looking at the balance of the team and the conditions in Sri Lanka we thought he was a player who had something to offer -- nothing more, nothing less."
Chappell also denied that the selection of Mongia suggested that Ramesh Powar had not quite done enough.
"No, not necessarily. If you want to go looking for skeletons you can find them anywhere. It's an opportunity to give a good cricketer another look-in. We think in Sri Lanka slow bowlers are going to be more beneficial than fast bowlers. We want to look at the different variations we've got when it comes to the World Cup. If the conditions in the West Indies are going to be as slow as they were this time around we might need two or three spin options rather than one or two. So we're just trying to increase our options."
With Irfan Pathan in mind, Chappell admitted that the team management had probably erred in overworking youngsters and would ensure such a thing was not repeated in future.
"We have to be careful. We've learnt some lessons that will help Irfan and some of the other young cricketers. We have to make sure that we don't overwork them and they don't overwork themselves."
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