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August 29, 1997
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Jadeja becomes deputy; Kumble, Prasad rested
Syed Firdaus Ashraf
Ajay Jadeja was named vice captain of the Indian cricket team to tour Canada and Pakistan in September for a series of 8 one day internationals.
Anil Kumble, who became India's vice captain last August, when Sachin Tendulkar took over the captaincy from Mohammad Azharuddin, has been dropped from the 14-member squad that will play Pakistan in the five-game Sahara Cup competition in Toronto, followed by the three-game Jinnah Cup in Pakistan.
The squad, as named, reads: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Ajay Jadeja (vice captain), Syed Saba Karim (wicket-keeper), Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Robin Singh, Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinod Kambli, Debashish Mohanty, Abey Kuruvilla, Rajesh Chauhan, Harvinder Singh and Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
President of the Kerala State Cricket Association A Salim will be the side's administrative manager, while Madan Lal, now into the last month of his tenure, will be coach.
Announcing the side after the selectors met in Bombay on Friday afternoon, chairman of selectors Ramakant Desai said that skipper Sachin Tendulkar is "quite happy" with the side he will be leading. It will be recalled that Tendulkar was reportedly unhappy with the side that had been picked for the recent Asia Cup competition in Sri Lanka.
"This time, Sachin's stamp of approval has been obtained for each and every player," Desai said at the media briefing.
Tendulkar was particularly pleased that the selectors had retained Nilesh Kulkarni, who did enough in Sri Lanka to merit an extended outing with the senior team. Having watched Kanitkar from close range while leading the Bombay Ranji squad, Tendulkar was reportedly quite impressed by the teenager's potential.
The meeting, Desai made it a point to add, was held without any rancour. "Past happenings were forgotten," the chairman of selectors said.
BCCI secretary J Y Lele meanwhile announced that the team would assemble in Bombay for five days of net practise from September 5 on, and leave for Delhi on September 10, en route to Canada. The Sahara Cup fixtures are slated for September 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20, and the Jinnah Cup games, part of Pakistan's celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence, will be held on September 29, 30 and October 2.
Back to the team as announced, and the most notable absentees are Navjot Singh Sidhu, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad and Nayan Mongia.
While Sidhu played as one drop batsman in the Asia Cup, he did not figure in the best-of-three series against Sri Lanka later, while Khoda did not have a single outing barring a warm up match ahead of the Tests.
Asked about the omission of Mongia, Desai said that the Indian keeper had been omitted on cricketing grounds, his running out of Mohammad Azharuddin in the final ODI against Sri Lanka being the spur. "He is still India's best wicketkeeper, but his batting was found wanting in the key slog overs during the ODI series," Desai said, adding that the selectors felt that Karim was more capable of tonking the ball than Mongia.
Referring to Venkatesh Prasad, Desai indicated that the Indian medium pacer has an injury to his right shoulder, and has been advised to get it treated. Preliminary indications are that Prasad is victim to the same rotary cuff tear that put Srinath out of action at the beginning of the Indian tour of the Caribbean earlier this year. "Prasad complained about shoulder pain during the last leg of the Lankan tour," Desai told the media.
However, Lele indicated to the media that Prasad has been carrying this injury ever since the tour of South Africa. Ratnakar Shetty, who was manager of the Indian team in Sri Lanka, has indicated in his report that Prasad was not able to throw a ball in from the outfield throughout the tour.
Interestingly, Desai did not shut the door on Javagal Srinath's comeback. While Lele had told the media, on Thursday, that Srinath would not be considered for selection, Desai said that the Indian quick was due to play in a domestic competition in early September and if he felt confident at the end of it, then the selectors would send him to Pakistan as an extra player.
The most interesting omission, of course, was that of Anil Kumble - and again, the manner of his omission is interesting. Speaking to the media on Thursday, Desai had said that any request for rest would have to come from the bowler himself. "It is not up to the selectors to prescribe rest on our own, the player has to ask for it," Desai had said.
On Friday, however, the chairman of selectors did a volte face and informed the media that though no request for a rest had come from Kumble, the selectors had decided to put their collective foot down and omit the leg spinner from the side to tour Canada and Pakistan. "We do not want to lose a good bowler, we would rather preserve his career than persist with him now," Desai said. "He has a fine record and lots of experience, and the intervening period will serve him well."
The chairman of selectors said that Kumble has been looking listless and unlike himself these last few months. "It was for this reason that he was not played in the last two internationals in Sri Lanka," Desai indicated.
What is behind the change of heart on the part of the selectors? Sources indicate that Sachin Tendulkar had, in course of the selection committee meeting, asked that his deputy be given some rest, and time to get back to his wicket-taking rhythm. It will be recalled that at the end of the West Indies tour, Tendulkar had said, "We need a wrist spinner who can turn the ball on any track," an apparent indictment of Kumble's bowling.
With Kumble out of the Indian squad, the choice of vice captain became an issue. Desai indicated that while the likes of Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, two of the brighter stars of Indian cricket, were considered for the post, Jadeja was preferred on the basis of his wealth of experience.
Other names to figure in the selectorial deliberations when picking this squad, Desai said, were Madhya Pradesh opener Amay Khurasia, Punjab keeper-batsman Pankaj Dharmani, Tamil Nadu's up and coming S Sharath and Bombay all-rounders Sairaj Bahutule and Ajit Agarkar. "Some of them at least will find a place in the Indian side in the near future," Desai said, adding wryly that he may not be around to see it - a reference to the fact that this is the last selection exercise this particular committee will undertake, as its tenure ends on August 30.
Asked about the two newcomers to the side, Desai said that Harvinder Singh had impressed him even during the Bangalore camp for the Asia Cup probables. "He was in the forefront of our minds all along, and when the chance came up, we gave it to him," Desai said.
Hrishikesh Kanitkar - who creates history of sorts by becoming one of the few instances of son following father into the national side (his father Hemant had played two Tests against Clive Lloyd's touring West Indians in 1974-'75) - was recently voted the most handsome first class cricketer in the country, in course of a festival in Pune. While this is obviously no criterion for selection, the chairman of selectors indicated that Kanitkar had indicated his promise while playing for the India A outfit, as also in Ranji Trophy. A decent bat and useful off spinner - whose ability is more restrictive than penetrative - Kanitkar is a crack fielder.
Asked whether Tendulkar's captaincy had figured at all in the deliberations, an annoyed Desai shot back, "Why should it? There is no problem with his captaincy, it is all merely a creation of the media."
The chairman of selectors had, of course, conveniently forgotten that Tendulkar's captaincy was reviewed in depth by the committee he heads, just before the start of the Indepedence Cup quadrangular earlier this year. In fact, on that occasion, Tendulkar wasn't allowed to attend the selection meeting on the grounds that since his own captaincy was under review, it would not be proper for him to sit in on the deliberations - and that was definitely no media creation.
Which, of course, brought up the question of how Desai and his fellow selectors - Shivlal Yadav, Sambaran Bannerjee, Kishen Rungta and M Pandove - viewed their year in office.
"Why ask me?" was the bland answer. "The press has already assessed our performance and discarded us."
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