Start of a new season

I must apologize for being off the blog for so long. Some of this has been due to genuine busy-ness and lack of time. And some of it, I must admit, has just been due to lack of excitement. Cricket last year had real flavor to it – a terrific resurrection from the WC 2007 debacle; two big series against the Aussies; the novelty of IPL; the emotional retirements of Ganguly and Kumble. Compared to that, this year has just fallen a bit flat, and I have found it hard to get as excited. While the win in New Zealand was nice, it was against the weakest NZ team I have ever seen in the 25+ years I have followed cricket.

But now, we are at the cusp of a new season, and the selectors will select the teams for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy tomorrow. I must confess that this season doesn’t particularly excite me either. There is virtually non-stop cricket between September and May, but only one Test series of consequence in that time, against Sri Lanka. That should be a good series – the Lankans are developing into a seriously good side. But this sort of scheduling is indicative of the way the BCCI is itself primarily responsible for the decline of the longer form of the game.

Much as 50-50 cricket fails to excite me much, this is an interesting time to watch team selection, because in a sense, we are approaching the home stretch towards the 2011 World Cup. So this is when, really, the core of the team should already be settled, and when some serious work should be done in identifying and grooming those who will occupy the peripheries.

The good news is – the core of the team already exists. Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj and Dhoni with the bat; Zaheer and Harbhajan with the ball – all of these are experienced players who have stepped up to occupy the role of leaders within the team. Of course, Zak will miss the one-day arrangements coming up, and Viru will miss at least the tri-series in Sri Lanka. But the nucleus is there.

This is why – much as I admire him, much as I think he was hard done by when he was dropped from the one-day side two years ago – I would not bring Rahul Dravid back into the one-day side. The vulnerabilities of some of our youngsters against the short ball were evident in the T20 World Cup; but those vulnerabilities are not going to be ironed out by dropping them. At this point, it makes little sense to bring Dravid back as a stop-gap measure unless he is going to be a central part of the team all the way to the World Cup. And I don’t think that can be guaranteed at all. It would make more sense to toughen up the likes of Raina and Rohit Sharma and give them more international experience. Ultimately, those with a weakness against the short ball never develop a foolproof technique against it – the likes of Ganguly and Steve Waugh had technical shortcomings against the short ball throughout their career. It is just that some people develop the temperament to succeed against the short ball in spite of their technical weaknesses. Now is the time to see if the likes of Raina and Rohit have that temperament.

I would, however, retract my insistence from earlier in the year and have Sachin back in the side. It is clear that we need greater experience and technical solidity, especially given that Viru is absent or will be making a comeback after a long layoff. This means that the top 4 in Sri Lanka are pretty straightforward. Gambhir and Tendulkar open. I would have Yuvraj batting at 3. There may still be a question mark against him in Tests, but he is an imperious one-day batsman, and I think that, certainly in Viru’s absence, he needs to be as far up the order as possible. Certainly in Sri Lanka, it is better to have him batting higher up the order, since he tends to struggle against choking Sri Lankan slow bowlers in the middle overs. He would be better off batting when the ball comes on to the bat. Dhoni has now become the perfect fulcrum of our one-day line-up – really, adopting the role that Dravid played so well from 2002-2007 – and he would be the obvious no. 4.

The question really concerns the batsmen who follow, the periphery to support the core. I would let go of Ravindra Jadeja from the reckoning – he may have talent, but he doesn’t seem quite ready yet for the big league. And even before coming to the Rainas and the Rohits, the first person I would pencil in is Dinesh Karthik.

DK is one of those people who needs to be talked about a little more. He doesn’t have the obvious talent of a Raina or a Rohit. But he is in fact an extremely versatile batsman – someone who has shown that he can play with a straight bat and open in Test matches, and at the same time can come in the slog overs of a T20 game in the lower middle order and start improvising straight away. Importantly, he has a really strong temperament, and is a terrific team player. He also has a very strong cricketing intelligence, with a wonderful ability to read situations – a street-smart cricketer, rather like Gautam Gambhir, or Tillakaratne Dilshan. He was a stand-out performer in the West Indies, so that form has to be rewarded with persistence. Most importantly, I think someone who could be the top run-scorer in a Test series, as opener, in England, has what it takes to succeed at international level in all forms of the game. We don’t know that yet about Raina or Rohit; we do know that about DK.

I think DK has suffered because he has been thought of as a reserve wicket-keeper who can bat. So, he often doesn’t come into the reckoning unless Dhoni is injured; and then, gets judged on the basis of his keeping. DK is not a great keeper; and let’s face it, it is hard to really turn oneself on behind the stumps on a one-off basis consistently, knowing that however well you do, you’ll be dropped again once the skipper returns. What we have overlooked in the process, however, is that DK is amongst the better batsmen in the country. And if he is groomed now, he really could be part of the core of the team going into the next World Cup. He needs to be thought of as a batsman who can keep, rather than a keeper who can bat.

And really, that’s what Dhoni was thought of when he first arrived, was it not? For one-dayers, it’s just fine to have a batsman-keeper keep. And I do think that, even if Dhoni is the better keeper, it is a quite attractive prospect to have DK keep in one-dayers. Ultimately, the pressure of keeping and captaining in all three forms of the game will take its toll on Dhoni, both physically and mentally. He has already dealt with back problems; and by the end of the IPL and through the T20 World Cup, some of the Captain Cool image was fraying as well. It will take pressure off Dhoni, and help the team no end, to have someone else keep in at least one form of the game, especially given how much one-day cricket we are playing this coming season. It could help DK’s wicket-keeping as well.

The no. 6 spot then is the most contentious. Raina and Rohit are obviously leading candidates; but they will be threatened now by Virat Kohli, who had a sensational series in Australia with the triumphant Emerging Players side. Kohli would be the form pick, especially with Raina coming off injury; but I would stick my neck out and stick to Raina and Rohit. This is because these are two players whom we have invested in a great deal over the past couple of years. I think we need to decide that these are players we need to continue investing in even if they go through an occasional bad patch, or show occasional vulnerabilities. Indeed, I would put Raina straight back into the playing 11. I think he is a unique talent; but more than that, I see him just constantly improving. When he first came into the side, he had flashes of brilliance, but little substance or staying power. He has now gone back and worked on that in domestic cricket, and is mentally a much tougher player, the sort of player who has shown an ability to play match-defining innings in shorter versions of the game. So I have the confidence that he will be able to overcome some of his technical shortcomings as well, or at least paper it over with mental toughness. Rohit is a sublime talent – perhaps, really, only Viru and Sachin are his equals in Indian cricket on talent alone – but he has yet to show the consistency, or temperament, that Raina has started showing.

As for Kohli, I still have my doubts. When he is good, he is very good. But I think Ray Jennings’ comment that he thinks he is bigger than the game is worth noting. Kohli just hasn’t shown the consistency, even in the IPL let alone in longer forms of the game, to show that he is ready to leapfrog over Raina and Rohit. He certainly ought to be giving Rohit especially some anxious moments; but I want him to string together some consistent performances over months, and not just be recalled on the basis of one strong series. (Indeed, the person who has strung performances over years, not just months, is Badrinath, so while I think Raina and Rohit deserve persistence at the moment, I would put Badri ahead of Kohli in my pecking order. It is ironic that when the short-ball problem was identified in the youngsters, the selectors went right back to considering Dravid, when in Badri they have a youngster who is technically sound, and who can be groomed to play the role that Dravid has played in the past in the forthcoming World Cup. Badri seems doomed to be the invisible man of Indian cricket. It is ironic that even the Srikkanth selection committee, which seems to be intent on giving virtually every Tamilnadu player in contention a chance in Indian colors, continues to overlook Badri).

The no. 7 spot is the all-rounder’s, and I would stick to Yusuf Pathan. He hasn’t yet fulfilled his potential in 50-50 cricket for India, but I would apply the same principle that I apply to Raina and Rohit. The selectors have identified him, he has enormous talent, and he needs to be groomed and given a proper run before he is given up on. Shane Warne thinks that, after Andrew Symonds, Yusuf is the cleanest striker in world cricket, and that is an assessment I would take seriously. His off-break bowling is a more than useful foil to Harbhajan’s. Abhisekh Nayar is his major competition, but I want to see more of Yusuf before I start playing musical chairs with this position.

As far as the bowling is concerned, Harbhajan and Ishant Sharma are certainties. I think the second and third seamers should be certainties as well. R.P. Singh has rediscovered his mo-jo, so should be the obvious new ball partner with Ishant. Like DK, RP has had patches of inconsistency. But like DK, RP has shown that he can succeed at the highest level in all forms of the game, and that means that as long as he is in form he should be considered a core part of the team. He certainly enjoys bowling in South Africa, which will make him a factor in the Champions Trophy. Praveen Kumar, meanwhile, is undoubtedly the best third seamer in the country. He has done virtually nothing wrong in the one-dayers he has played for India, and I love his combative, wicket-to-wicket bowling. He has done particularly well against the Lankans, being very successful against the likes of Jayasuriya (who likes width, and gets none of it from PK), and I think his selection should be a no-brainer.

In terms of reserve bowlers, Pragyan Ojha should slot in easily as the reserve spinner. There is some talk of Amit Mishra taking his place, and it is clear that Mishra is Narendra Hirwani’s protégé, so a switch cannot be ruled out. But that would be unfair on Ojha. I have been harsh on him in the past, but he has really blossomed this year, and I was very impressed with the way in which he constantly attacked, with lovely loop, flight and turn, in the IPL. Before that, he was extremely successful in Sri Lanka, so if the situation calls for an extra spinner (especially, say, against New Zealand), then an Ojha for PK swap might make sense.

I think 14 players are more than enough for a tri-nation series that consists of only two games (three, if we reach the final), so my final selection for Sri Lanka will be the reserve seamer. This will be my most controversial selection, and it is a selection we are absolutely unlikely to see made tomorrow. Indeed, it is almost certain that the selectors will pick Ashish Nehra as the fourth seamer. But I am still unconvinced about Nehra’s claims. He has always had a suspect temperament, is prone to injuries, and basically has done nothing to merit selection other than in the IPL. He now talks about how he plans to “lead” the attack in Zaheer’s absence. Zak is arguably the best swing bowler in world cricket today – and Nehra will step into his shoes on the basis of a few four-over spells? I don’t think so.

I still have faith in Irfan Pathan, and if I was the selector he would be part of my one-day plans still, making up the 14th player. Indeed, I think Irfan’s exclusion from the list of 30 probables is one of the scandals of recent times, but one that has gone completely unremarked upon.

First – let us look simply in terms of ability. Irfan is the one genuine all-rounder in Indian cricket, bar none. He is the one person who could get into the side as a third seamer, and, if necessary, slot in at no. 7 even in a Test match side. We have a number of bits-and-pieces all-rounders in Yusuf, Nayar or Jadeja, but we really cannot afford to sideline the one person who could conceivably become an all-rounder in the league of Mitchell Johnson, if not quite Flintoff or Kallis.

Second – performance. It is true that Irfan has not set the world alight of late. But in fact, he hasn’t been given the security to really feel a part of the team. Over the past couple of years, he has hardly been selected for more than three one-day games at a trot; and his selection and dropping seems to operate on a random- series-to-series basis. No one can really establish their claims when being treated in such a haphazard manner.

Irfan’s career really is a tragedy in that regard. First, he was talked up as being more of a bowler than he really was. He was a good swing bowler, but no Wasim Akram, and having to live up to those comparisons at the age of 19 did him no good. Then, there were the horrible Greg Chappell experiments when he was asked to open the batting, even in Tests, so he started thinking of himself as a batting all-rounder, neglecting his bowling in the process. Irfan is a fine batsman – he plays straight, and he has all the shots. But he is not an opener or a no. 3, in any form of the game. And since his post-Chappell dropping, he’s never been given a proper run in the side.

This is in spite of the fact that he has some memorable performances of note in recent times – none more so than being man of the match in one of our most famous Test wins of all time, at Perth. Again, someone who is good enough to be man of the match in a victorious Test match in Australia, to break their 16-match winning streak, has to be good enough to play international cricket. It is the same principle as DK and RP – these are people who have shown they can succeed at the highest level, and shouldn’t be given up on. And if we are now at a stage where IPL performances count as much for selection as Test performances, then Irfan, over both editions, has been every bit as effective for Punjab in that format as Nehra has been for Mumbai / Delhi. It is just when he plays for India that he seems to lose his confidence – which clearly is a reflection of insecurity, not inability.

The real scandal is not that Irfan has been dropped from the side; that happens, and on form, it can be argued that Irfan doesn’t make the cut. The real scandal is that he is not even amongst the 30 probables. A few months ago, this very selection committee risked Dhoni walking out on the captaincy by insisting on selecting Irfan ahead of RP; and now, less than a year later, he isn’t even good enough to make a list of 30, a list that contains the likes of Pankaj Singh, who can’t even hold down his place in the playing 11 of an IPL team? That defies belief.

If the problem was Irfan’s form, then he should have been sent to Australia with the Emerging Players side; a person of his talent has to be given all the opportunities he can get to play himself back into form and confidence. Clearly, then, the reasons for his exclusion, as Yusuf has publicly opined, are non-cricketing. I wonder how much this has to do with personality issues with Dhoni? It was clear that Dhoni wanted RP ahead of him; it is clear that Irfan plays much better under Yuvraj, for Punjab, than he has ever done under Dhoni. But are we really going to let the best all-rounder in the country simply slip through the cracks for non-cricketing reasons? Or will he be pulled back, in utterly random fashion, for some future series, have a gun put to his head and be made to perform at short notice, without any security in the side or any conversation about his long term place in it? Irfan’s treatment speaks to the arbitrariness that has been the bane of Indian cricket for too long. At first sight, it had seemed that this selection committee was above that; but I guess that was too much to hope for.

My teams:

For Sri Lanka tri-series

Playing XI:

Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh (V)
Mahendra Dhoni ©
Dinesh Karthik (W)
Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Praveen Kumar
R.P. Singh
Ishant Sharma

Reserves:

Rohit Sharma
Irfan Pathan
Pragyan Ojha

For Champions Trophy

Playing XI:

Virendra Sehwag (V)
Sachin Tendulkar
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
Mahendra Dhoni ©
Dinesh Karthik (W)
Yusuf Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Praveen Kumar
R.P. Singh
Ishant Sharma

Reserves:

Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
Irfan Pathan
Pragyan Ojha

Back-up [in case Sehwag still unfit]:

Subramaniam Badrinath