Azhar, Sidhu in India side; Kambli, Mongia out!
Prem Panicker in Bangalore
Leaning casually against the rails beside the steps leading down from
the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, chairman of the national
selectors Ramakant Desai mused: "At least ten of the players pick
themselves anyway, the real competition is only for the other four
slots."
This was at 11.15 am on Monday, July 7.
At 12, Desai ushered into the stadium's conference room his fellow
selectors --Shivlal Yadav, M Pandove, Sambaran Bannerjee and Kishen
Rungta. With them was India's cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar, coach
Madan Lal and Cricket Board secretary J Y Lele.
When Tendulkar emerged from the meeting, it was 2 hours and
fifteen minutes later. Judging by which evidence, the selectors must
have found it harder to fill those four marginal berths than a bride
trying to fill her trousseau.
The 14, as named by the selection committee and announced by Lele --
the first time the honour is devolving on him, actually -- reads:
Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Abey
Kuruvilla, Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble (vice-captain), Mohammad
Azharuddin, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Syed Saba Karim, Noel David, Robin
Singh, Nilesh Kulkarni and Debashish Mohanty.
Lele seemed rather loath to field questions regarding the selections.
And Desai's reply, to a question about whether he was happy with the
deliberations that led to this list, was "I think so".
True, no exercise in team selection ever satisfies anybody. So before
even examining the ones who didn't make it a cut, it might be worth
the while to take a look at the composition of the side as it stands.
There are six specialist batsmen (given that Jadeja does not bowl
these days, he is being included as a batsman -- a fact confirmed by
Desai himself in the post-selection press briefing). There is one
keeper. Three spinners, in Kumble, left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni
and off spinner Noel David. And there are three medium pacers, in
Kuruvilla, Prasad and Mohanty (the Orissa Ranji player who most
recently hit the public eye with a good showing for India A in the
SAARC tournament in Sri Lanka). And oh yes, there is one all rounder.
So what are the pluses and minuses?
For one thing, the presence in the side of three specialist one day
openers in Tendulkar, Ganguly and Sidhu. Desai clarified that Sidhu
would bat down the order. In fact, the chairman of selectors said that
Sidhu had been picked in place of Vinod Kambli. (Speaking of which,
Kambli, whose last appearance for India fetched a fighting 65 against
Pakistan at Madras in the Independence Cup, must be wondering just
what more he is expected to do to retain his berth in the team).
Anyway this is the line-up as it stands. Tendulkar and Ganguly to
open, with Sidhu in the one drop position. So we have Dravid -- more a
classy accumulator than a mauler of bowling -- coming in at four,
Mohammad Azharuddin at five, and Jadeja at six with Saba Karim to
follow. What this does to middle order acceleration, given that
batsmen numbers three and four are both the type who like to take
their time to get set before branching out into strokeplay, is
anyone's guess.
Ah yes, Desai did confirm that all six batsmen would play, with Karim
lending even more depth to the batting line-up. "We felt that Karim was
a better one day batsman than Mongia, which is why we have picked him
for this tournament," Desai clarified.
If you have the six batsmen playing, with Kumble a cert to come in at
number eight after Karim, that leaves three places to fill. "The exact
line-up will be up to the captain and manager, depending on the
conditions and the team they are playing against," Desai clarified.
Fine, so let's say we have two medium pacers and either David or
Kulkarni as the second spinner, filling up the remaining berths.
Aren't we forgetting something here? Just recently, we were hearing
talk from this selfsame selection committee about the value of
all-rounders in the side. In fact, six members of the tribe were
picked for the Bangalore camp now on, ostensibly to beef up this
department. So where does an all-rounder fit into the above lineup?
If Robin Singh is to be included, who gets the chop? Sidhu? Dravid?
Azhar? Jadeja? Or, god forbid, one of the bowlers?
How did this situation, where you cannot fit in an all-rounder at a time when the selectors themselves admit the crying need for one or more of them come up? Simply because two senior players had, in the selectorial thinking, to be accommodated. Namely, Messrs Azharuddin and Sidhu. And having picked them, they cannot be dropped... which lengthens the team's batting line-up to an unmanageable extent.
Take a look at Azhar's selection. A month ago he was not good enough to find a place in the side for the Independence Cup. Today, he is back in the side, without having proved himself with runs in any domestic competition (surely the one match he played in the Hyderabad Siyaram's Cup tamasha counts for nothing much?). "We monitored his performance in the camp, and think he is batting in good form now," was Desai's explanation.
Fine. A while later, we asked, what of Rajesh Chauhan? Were the selectors unhappy with his action? Did they think he was not bowling well? "Oh, Chauhan has not bowled in international cricket lately," came Desai's pat answer.
The essential contradiction here does not appear to have occurred to Desai and company. One player is judged on his performance in the camp, another is judged on the fact that he has not played international cricket lately. If Chauhan was not liable for selection because he had not played top quality cricket, why pray was he picked for the camp anyway?
An aside. At 10 am this morning, I was sitting in a chair behind the first of two nets set up in the centre of Chinnaswamy Stadium. At bat was Tendulkar. Bowling to him were Prasad, Ganesh, Raju and Chauhan. Tendulkar, in relaxed mood, regularly picked off the two medium pace bowlers for fours and sixes with drives and pulls, and repeatedly swept, flicked and straight drove Raju into the midst of the three, four hundred people who had come to watch the fun. The Indian captain, in
fact, was out just four times -- twice stumped, once bowled, and once played on... all of them off Chauhan's bowling. Not too bad, given the mood Tendulkar was in, but not enough apparently to get him a berth in the side.
Oh yes, did I forget to mention that while all this was happening, the five selectors were seated right next to where I was sitting, watching the fun.
Perhaps the most inexplicable statement from Desai came about a player who was not even in the 27, though very much present and active at the nets. What about Dodda Ganesh? Desai was asked. "He has been given two tours and has not improved one bit, we do not think he, at present, deserves a place in the side. He is young, he should try to improve and force his way back into the team."
Hello? Are we speaking of the same player who, before the start of the Caribbean tour, was rated by Desai himself as a major find? The same Ganesh who, in the opinion of coach Madan Lal at the end of the West Indies tour, was one of the players who showed the most potential? The same Ganesh who, in the words of skipper Tendulkar, showed the promise of developing into another Srinath? Or are there two Ganeshs around someplace, one the brilliant young talent everyone
applauds, the other a wannabe who despite being tried on two tours does not now deserve to be even in the first 27?
I don't know. Before the selection committee meeting, I was having a casual chat with Desai, in course of which I asked him whether the selectors had considered the possibility of a permanent India A line-up, practising together in order to be available, at an instant's notice, to step into the senior team as and when injuries or lack of form created vacancies. "Well, India is lucky that it has lots of talented youngsters, the ones here are all very good players, and all have potential to play for India," said Desai, an answer that is neither here nor there. Then I asked him, how about the 13
players who have played for India in the past season and who are not even in the top 27 today?
Does that argue bad selection in the first place, or is it that those players suffered dramatic plunges in form? "Oh, these things happen," said Desai, and at once put an end to our chat
True. Such things happen, with this selection committee. And perhaps the most interesting aspect of today's exercise -- at least to my mind - came before the names were even read out. Tendulkar came out of the committee room at 2.15. Walked out of the hall and towards a group of spastic children who had been brought by their teachers, and who were patiently waiting for him.
Tendulkar smiles, signed autographs, talked to the kids, accepted their good wishes, then went over to the players's room to personally announce the selection to his team members. And from there, off he went, by car, to the airport to take a flight to Bombay.
Ten minutes after Tendulkar came out of the meeting, Madan Lal walked out, a sheaf of papers in his hands. And very purposefully marched right past the assembled media, and out of the ground.
So when J Y Lele came out, for the first time as BCCI secretary, to brief the media about a selection exercise, he was accompanied by only one other person -- Desai himself. Throughout the briefing, the chairs meant for captain and team manager remained empty.
Says it all, I guess.
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