Finally the selectors met in Chennai, discussed and came up with a team for the first two matches of the upcoming India-Australia one day series and certainly there are no prizes for guessing that as always they have taken some really questionable ones as they say that the team has been selected looking at the future.
A 36 year old veteran, Dravid, was called back into the side so that he could provide some solidity when the team had to play on South African pitches and despite of him being the second highest run getter for India in the failed campaign of Champions Trophy, he has been shown the door when the team is back on the Indian pitches. It looks like as if BCCI and the selectors want to say that they would call him whenever they needed to strengthen their fort by making a solid Wall otherwise they were happy enough without that Wall. Is this the way one treats a senior and a world class player like Dravid? I don’t think so. I am not saying that he should be in the ODI side because he certainly does not fit in the schemes of the Indian team anymore. What I am saying is just that he should have been treated in a better way and he certainly deserves that for the kind of stature he has.
Yusuf Pathan has not done very well in the limited opportunities given to him and in the Challenger Trophy too he did little to help his cause. His ouster was expected and quite justified too. Dinesh Karthik does not get a place in my team and the reasons for that I had given in my last article (Team India: The Weak Links) and his exclusion has shown that I was quite right. R.P.Singh, after good show in the IPL-II has got many chances, in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Champions Trophy but leave alone taking wickets, he has not even looked like taking wickets. Zaheer Khan has started bowling in nets and given the current form of the Indian pace line up, the selectors would have eagerly wanted him back holding the new ball in his hands, still he made himself unavailable for the selection for he has planned to play a few domestic matches in order to get match fitness before he starts bowling for India. This is like a lesson for some of the players who hide their injuries and also their match fitness in order to play for India and end up giving less than 33%.
Munaf Patel put up an impressive show in the Challenger Trophy and replaced R.P.Singh in the team. I hope he is fully fit this time and does not have any niggles or injuries because he has had that kind of a record to hide his injuries. When fully fit, he is a really good bowler. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh as expected are back in the side and with their inclusion Dhoni will not have to spend sleepless nights thinking about the opening combination and how to keep the score board moving in the middle part of the game. Virat Kohli did well enough in the Champions Trophy to retain his side but it is highly unlikely that he will get a chance with Yuvraj ,Raina and Dhoni being in the middle order.
The selectors always put up a few surprises and this time it was the sacking of Abhishek Nayar who was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja. Nayar played just a game in the Champions Trophy and neither looked very dull nor too impressive to me in his last outing moreover I feel only a single game is not enough to judge the abilities of a player at least I can’t. As far as Jadeja is concerned, it might be a Diwali gift for him because since he was shown the door after the T-20 World Cup and by the time he made his come back, I don’t think that he put up even a single knock which could deserve him his comeback. But yes he is quite a talent and I hope that he does well and uses this gifted opportunity to fullest.
Sudeep Tyagi, a new lad gets a reward for some good and consistent bowling in domestic cricket as well as in the Challenger Trophy and with his inclusion the pace line up reads as Ishant, Munaf, Nehra and Tyagi. The most vulnerable places would be of Ishant and Munaf and if anyone of them ventures poorly then Tyagi may fancy his chances. Harbhajan may not have been successful in the Champions Trophy but in Challenger Trophy he showed that on Indian wickets he is still a big force and it will not be that easy for any side to deal with him on Indian wickets. With him the onus in the spin department will be on Amit Mishra’s young but experienced shoulders who has become the first choice in the spin bowling after Harbhajan.
But unlike Jadeja, BCCI was not in a festive mood for Venky and Robin Singh, the coaches or I should say former coaches for the side for bowling and fielding respectively. They are sacked from their respective posts with immediate effect. There will be no new appointment for the Australian series but one may expect a new coach/coaches after that. If their sacking is justified or not that is a question of debate and I shall surely express my views regarding that in my upcoming articles. But for now I focus on the upcoming series. India have won all the bilateral series it has played in the 14 months or so and we hope for yet another victory with a much stronger side. Let us see how the things unfold.