Select shun

The selection of the Indian team, Raj Singh Dungarpur used to say many years ago, means more to the people of India than the announcement of the Union cabinet. It was a disquieting thought, made more sombre of course, by the fact that it was absolutely true. That had to change because we must get our priorities right and the quiet manner in which the announcement of this side slipped into the inside sports pages confirms that that time has come.

Is it because the Olympics are on? Or is it a further indicator of the downward attention spiral our cricket seems to be caught in? I think it is a bit of both and though I make a living out of cricket, I don't mind it at all ! A little bit of humbling did no one any harm!

Part of the reason as well is that there wasn't much to choose from. A look at the shortlist of 23 had made it clear that no more than two or three places could be debated and to my mind, there is really only one surprise which, since more and more people seem to be talking about golf, is well under par.

That surprise though is a big one and I am quite astonished at the fact that Sadagoppan Ramesh's opening slot has gone to Sriram. On slower wickets, Ramesh is an opener from the top category and he has the ability to score quickly without trying to do something ostentatious. Last year in Nairobi he produced a flier against South Africa and though he followed that up with a painfully slow one later (and you can put that down to the fact that there was a different kind of wicket every day!), I think he had shown enough to suggest that he had a right to a third opener’s place.

I suspect India are going to do a bit of thinking about their opening slot given the inconsistency, and indeed the inexperience, of the middle order. In such a situation, a captain must have the option of having a solid, proven opener to fall back on. And though Sriram has been opening the innings recently, if you are playing Australia, you want to have the option of using someone like Ramesh in the top order. I fear that India may be pushed to open with Tendulkar and Ganguly, which would take away a degree of freedom, because their preferred reserve might be a middle order player like Yuvraj Singh.

I think Vijay Dahiya is a very lucky man and you must wonder when an Indian wicketkeeper had done so little to earn a national cap. But we are picking wicketkeepers by elimination these days (with black marks rather than skill being the deciding factor) and if Dahiya is the last man standing, then I guess you must take what you get and wish him well. To his good fortune, our expectations from our wicketkeeper are so low that he will not find it difficult to catch our eye. But he is a cheerful fellow and he might yet surprise us and in all fairness, if he does, I will lead the applause !

You can see the captain’s involvement in the selection of Zahir Khan and I think this is a wonderful selection. From all accounts, Zahir is pretty quick, offers a left arm over option that Indian cricket has struggled with for too long and more than anything else, it will give him a huge shot in the arm. Sourav Ganguly was very disappointed with what the selectors gave him for the Asia Cup and I am pretty sure that his presence at the meeting would have been responsible for the exit of Kumaran and Amit Bhandari. The captain takes the team and if he has strong views, then the selection committee, having invited him to the meeting, has to go with him.

The only other debate would have centred around whether to pick the raw but widely discussed Yuvraj Singh or go in for the all-round skills of Reetinder Sodhi. We must make it clear though that Yuvraj is a batsman who can bowl some off breaks but in the world of international cricket, to classify him as an all-rounder is being a bit optimistic and indeed, is stretching the definition to unacceptable lengths.

He is a wonderful striker but to find a place in the side, he needs to fit into the first five and I suspect Kambli and Badani might get a go before him. But a tour with the senior team and an opportunity to watch the best in the world at close quarters can do him no harm and for that reason alone, I would have been delighted to see Sodhi in the team as well.

The rest of the bowling picked itself and if I was Ganguly, I would be hoping that Tendulkar would be able to give me at least eight overs everytime. And after making a mental note of a match winning total, I would add another twenty runs to it.

Clearly, if India have to progress, the batsman have to win it for them and the performance of the support cast will be critical here; especially the form of Kambli and Badani, two very attractive left handers who score quickly and pull their weight in the field. If you want to be rude you could say that Kambli contributes some weight elsewhere as well but he has always been quick in the outfield and on the evidence of what I saw in Dhaka, I am tempted to put Badani in the excellent category.

There is a lot riding on this team for a spirited performance will go a long way in erasing our recent run of bad news. But when it comes to playing the likes of Australia, and don't forget India have a very good record against them in warm climates and slow tracks, you begin to wonder if it is all going to come down to Tendulkar and Ganguly again.

Harsha Bhogle

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