The recent chopping and changing and seemingly inane rotation
of players in the Indian cricket team has left many a fan totally puzzled. The
question that seems to be on everyone’s lips is “why”. There
appears to be no method to the madness with players being dropped and picked
for no apparent rhyme or reason, all under the guise of a buzzword called ‘experimentation’.
For the remaining two One-Day internationals with the West Indies all
rounder Joginder Sharma and paceman R.P Singh have both been dropped
from the 15. Left-handed attacking batsman Yuvraj Singh and veteran leg
spinner Anil Kumble shall replace them. Yuvraj Singh was out of action since
last October due to a ligament tear that he suffered during a practice session.
Anil Kumble, someone who has in recent years been looked upon mainly as a test
bowler, now finds his way back into the One-Day squad. Sourav Ganguly on the
other hand will be rested after his two comeback ODIs. Whereas paceman Irfan
Pathan will be included as a 16th player in the squad for the fourth and last
ODI in Vadodra. This only leaves Virender Sehwag who for the moment it seems
has been left high and dry.
So the question still remains, why this seemingly random juggling of players
just before the World Cup? With the final World Cup squad slated to be announced
on the 17th of February shouldn’t the selectors have already settled on
a final team? So what is causing this hectic shuffling and shifting of players?
And more importantly, on what basis are these measures being taken? But the
selectors seem to be quite guarded when it comes to answering such questions.
They simply say that they are trying to find the right combination. And in doing
so they want to give everyone a chance. In that case why was R.P Singh taken
into the squad for the first two matches if he was only going to warm the bench?
Clearly he was never a part of India’s World Cup plans. And what makes
Irfan Pathan fit to be included as the 16th player in the last ODI and not Virender
Sehwag? The three Ranji matches that Pathan played for Baroda were decent for
him but the same goes true for Sehwag who in fact scored a century and took
six wickets in his Ranji match for Delhi.
From a personal point of view I think that our so-called World Cup preparation
is in a complete disarray. It seems that we literally don’t have any clue
as to what we are doing. I think the chaos started after More retired as the
chairman of the selection committee and Vengsarkar took his place. There is
no denying that More was more than just colleagues with Chappell while he was
the chairman and therefore when he was around Chappell had a free hand in running
the show the way he wanted. Now that More is gone and Vengsarkar is at the helm
the latter is vigorously trying to undo all the wrongs that the Chappell-More
duo had heaped upon the team and Indian cricket in general. But the problem
is that we are too close to the World Cup and trying to chop and change at this
point of time might actually backfire. And the way things are shaping up a disaster
is seemingly on the cards. How can you prepare for the World Cup when you don’t
even have a fixed team to work with?
There can be only one plausible explanation to this and that
is that these One-Dayers with the West Indies and possibly the next four with
Sri Lanka are some sort of tests for the players. Not only the matches per say
but also the net practices in between. So till now Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid,
Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Dhoni have all passed and are definite picks
for the final World Cup squad. Sachin Tendulkar always had his berth reserved.
Whereas Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Suresh
Raina, Gambhir, Dinesh Kartik, Powar, Sreesanth and Agarkar are all on the waiting
list and are still awaiting confirmation. J.P Sharma and R.P Singh are almost
definitely out.
In conclusion, the way things are going it seems that we have to once again
hope for a miracle to see India through the World Cup. So my suggestion is that
we all start praying and maybe the man upstairs might take heart and intervene.
After all that is our best bet at the moment.
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