At A Loss For Words

The selection of the team for the first test against England has frankly left me struggling for words. After More and Co. had done more or less a good consistent job till the Pak series (the pressure-induced Ganguly selections and droppings notwithstanding) today they have given the impression that they distinctly want to hog the limelight. Pity, because selectors job is done well when it is talked about very little.

First things first. And this is something that can never be answered satisfactorily. Why declare the team on the first day of the warm-up match ? If the performances in the game are to have no effect on the selection why not just declare it before the start of the game ? At least that would have saved a lot of disappointment for the likes of Munaf and Gambhir and an appearance of stupidity that has been associated with these selections. Or select the team on the last day, dammit.

While Wasim Jaffer rightly retains his place what wrong has Gautam Gambhir done ? As I see it, they were both selected for Pakistan, Gambhir was the incumbent, but neither played a game. So shouldn't the status quo be maintained ? What has happened is that the selectors have gone with one opener less. OK, that in itself is not a bad idea. We do not really need 3 openers all the time, but given that Sehwag has a dodgy shoulder, some back-up would have been appreciated, especially considering the special position that Jaffer and Gambhir find themselves in. And if there was to be only one open slot, I'm sorry it should have gone to Gambhir.

Now to what will probably be the most hotly debated selection - or rather the lack of - of Sourav Ganguly. As Dileep Premachandran mentions in an article here, this would have been taken to a little bit more kindly even by the Gangulians had Yuvraj actually been fit. But fact is he is not. The guys we have instead are Mohammad Kaif a sincere hard-working cricketer who has yet to prove himself at test level and Suresh Raina, a 19 year old rookie who has made all the headlines for his attractive strokeplay but who has still got a fairly average first class record. It is fine to go for youth, but I guess in a high-profile series like this it would have made more sense to stick with experience. Ganguly should definitely have been in the 15.

About the only selection that can be deemed flawless is that of the wicket-keeper Dhoni.

Coming to the fast bowling lineup, Pathan makes the cut clearly. Now do we really need 4 fast bowlers in a home test ? Couldn't one of those slots have been used for a backup opener ? OK, Zaheer Khan, although I hate him, was not too bad in the tests in Pak,also Agarkar, was just about coming into his own against the home series in Sri Lanka. I think dropping both of them and going in with 2 debutants and one bowler who has played just 2 tests is bordering a bit on the foolish IMO. In particular while Sreesanth's impressive performance earned him a place, VRV was definitely, I think a hasty selection. One of Zaheer and Agarkar could have been in his place, or as I mentioned earlier, Gambhir. And even granting selectors their impulsive wish to go with young fast bowlers shouldn't Munaf have been picked ahead of VRV ? Not only because of his spell today, but for the fact that he has been playing superbly all season while VRV on the other hand has been out a lot due to injury.

Finally the spinners, again the same concern as the fast bowlers. Are we having one spinner too many ? Are we really going to play 3 spinners ? IMO No. So what's the hurry in getting Chawla in ? He is only 17, he can wait. While it is necessary to try to groom him as Kumble's successor it can be done by simply inviting him to the dressing room than actually picking him. I mean I am a huge fan of the guy and believe he is a brilliant young talent but unfortunately the team needs at this hour do not fit with his skills.

In general, the emphasis has been on pushing the youth in, throwing out the experience without paying much attention to the team composition. One almost gets the feeling that if all the upcoming youngsters were fast bowlers, 11 of them might have been picked, same is the case, if all were openers. There seems to be a serious lack of balance.

Here is the team in the end:
Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kaif
Raina
Dhoni
Pathan
RP Singh
Sreesanth
VRV Singh
Kumble
Harbhajan
Chawla

Here's what my team would have looked like
Sehwag
Gambhir
Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Ganguly
Kaif
Dhoni
Pathan
RP Singh
Sreesanth
Zaheer/Agarkar
Kumble
Harbhajan

So basically, Ganguly in place of Raina, Zaheer/Agarkar in place of VRV and Gambhir in place of Chawla.

I hope that despite this serious imbalance India does well. In fact I think they will. It is just that the ends won't quite justify the means here.