Few weeks back, during India- Australia ODI series at Mohali; I was betting on Sachin that he will not score his 17,000 runs at Mohali. Neither had he scored attained that feet on that night nor he reached half century. Result was India went down in one more match.
After playing over for two decades, I am not recommending him to be match winner for every match. But at least this is the time selectors need to raise their eyebrows and need to understand a correct replacement for this legend in coming years. Last year around this time, Men in blue were dominating by winning first T-20 world cup and an ODI series win in Australia and in Sri Lanka. At that time, new trend developed in the team – ‘Youngistan’. Though everyone welcomed the selector’s approach and indeed Youngistan shed their blood out with fearless batting, fielding techniques. Who won’t appreciate those young caps if they defeat mighty Australians in their den?
Out of the 15 member team who flew to Australia, very few could make impress the selectors with their consistent performance. Isanth Sharma once had a good pace and swing is lacking his pace. Rohit Sharma who was said to be potential 3rd down batsman is still searching his place in final XI. Another fast bowler Sreesanth is either in the beds with injuries or finding himself dancing around in stages. Other players who emerged out were Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina. Former proved himself to be opener in both forms with his back to back centuries in Test and ODIs. The later though had good innings under his belly, he stills need to frame an innings on his own.
The selectors had this youth policy in past as well. In the year 2000, Players like Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Ratinder Singh Sodhi were introduced to International Circuit when they won Under 19 world cup. Yuvraj Singh and Kaif won the selector’s choice, when they pulled up Natwest Series. Kaif did once again when he scored match winning maiden century during 2003 world cup. Those were their 20th or 30 ODI internationals. The current players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Isanth Sharma, Sreesanth; though they have enough matches to their credit, they still couldn’t show up their consistent performance.
The youth policy has really appreciable but the same time; selectors have to see the vintage players in the team. Though Rahul Dravid had decent Champions Trophy, was removed out ODI against Australia. I don’t understand how a player like Virat Kohli who has played just 10 odd games can compensate a player who has played more than 200 games and scored more than 10,000 runs. I feel the poor middle order could be cause of the loosing ODI series Australia. Fast bowler Ashish Nehra who too had decent Champions trophy and ODI series was left out for test series against Sri Lanka. It’s evident that selector’s theory would be” If you are playing good- you are out because we need to give chance to other players”. “If you are playing bad- We still see some potential in that guy… we need to give one more chance”.
Earlier selectors kept Ranji Trophy (Test Match) or Duleep Trophy as a base for selecting a player for an India XI. Now that IPL has emerged, many players were tested on their performance through T-20 game. The test match happens to be three day or five day. It gives much analysis of a player’s patience and shot selections. So to some extent, selectors could gauge his performance with ODI format. After winning T-20 world cup and money pumped in to IPL, it looks like the selectors are keener on watching “see the ball- hit the ball” contest than watching 5 day game. Moreover it gave selectors more options on selecting players for series. One of the famous cricketer has quoted, “If you compare T-20 with fashion, I would say it as bikini cricket”.
Now that India will be hosting one more ICC world cup in next 15 months, selectors will be facing a tough call to select final 15 members who will be dressed blue shirt. There is a clear message to the young turks that the consistent performance is more important that winning a match for India.
