Indian team selectors – Are they trying to experiment?

Well everyone must be surprised when they heard about the Indian team which will make it to Zimbabwe tri series (also for the more religious ones, the Indian A team for England tri series). This is probably happening the first time in Indian Cricket that almost all the senior players will be rested. We will not be seeing the likes of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir. Well will this prove costly or not only time will tell.

Anyhow it is high time that the selectors show some mercy on some players. They have been playing continuous cricket now and it definitely seems to be a good decision by the BCCI to give some well deserved rest to some of the senior Indian players who we will need fully charged for the Asia Cup and the following non stop cricketing ties. Also some of players will need some isolation time to look back and see what went wrong in their dismal abysmal T20 performance.

It is so good to see that the BCCI has shown confidence in lot of youngsters. It will be a big break for lots of them in the team. Who knows when the next time these youngsters will get the chance? Definitely for most of them who will fail to perform this might as well be the last series they will be playing. They will be literally competing against each other to get noticed in the highest form of limited over cricket one can play for their country. Hope all this competition of ‘Survival of Fittest’ will be played in good spirit and Suresh Raina will be able to manage these guys so that all this competition will lead to getting India good results. No easy task this for Raina who has come under the scanner for poor captaincy in Dhoni’s absence in the recently completed IPL 3 edition.

Just imagine if this team kicks off then the selectors can follow a rotation policy where some of the seniors will be rested for every tournament. By this way we can be more prepared to select the best 16 for more important tournaments like World cup etc. With lots of cricket being played we cannot expect India to win all the tournaments with the same 16 member team. There must be a rotation system in place. With changing times India has to adapt itself, accept the fact that cricketers are in fact humans and not super humans to play through out the year non stop. This will also mean fewer injuries, a fitter team and stop the new trend of pre mature retiring.

This is not a new thing that the BCCI is trying to follow. Australians and England have tried this for getting their best 15 to play in the Ashes which they take it more seriously than World Cups.

Being a cricketer in a country like India can be a blessing or curse. We all know that one of the greatest fielders of our country and present fielding coach Robin Singh chose to play for India because of the stiff competition he faced in West Indies for a bowler slot. Why Robin, take the case of Dirk Nannes who went and played for Netherlands in the last world cup since he did not get a chance to play for Australia. All this tamasha because they were not getting a chance to play internationally in spite of consistent performances. Who knows deserving Indians may look to try their luck outside. With the way the cricket is being played now, the player’s origin hardly matters. The only solution for all this is for the selectors to follow a rotation policy so that every deserving cricketer will at least get one chance to prove himself.

Have the BCCI selector chosen the best second string team? Well there will be many answers from millions of cricket gurus in the country but here is mine, No. There have been some people who have been ignored. Like S Badrinath for example, I don’t know what that poor fellow has to do to prove his mettle. Also some might object this but I feel Rahul Dravid should have been given a chance (but not captaincy). He is a transformed player now, thanks to IPL. He would have proved a crucial guide to the team if God forbid the team configuration did not kick off. Not to mention the excellent record he has against the Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe.

Others who missed include Sreesanth (serves him right), Irfan Pathan (I don’t think we will miss him) and R P Singh (I feel he is unlucky). The selectors should have at least considered Murali Karthick for the T20 matches, who has proved time and time again that he is a serious customer. I can say he is the only T20 specialist bowler in the entire country.

Well for the ones who made it into the team it is the time to prove that the selectors were right in showing confidence in them. Also Lots of luck to Suresh Raina who has a big task ahead of him to manage and lead all the new comers. Also wishing Gary Kirsten who will have to work closely with Raina to get the combinations correct since most of them will not have played together in a single team.

All the Best India – Sabko Harake aa jao.

P.S. Best of luck to the India A team too travelling to England.