Quo vadis?

So, whenever you ask — so often in recent times — whether these greats should be replaced on form, you also have to ask: where is the replacement?

Brings to memory chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar’s remark of last year, about “no exceptional talent” in Indian cricket. He knew what he was referring to.

India managed to get rid of Greg Chappell. Now a certain board official shares this view: “But Indian cricket will eventually realize what the Aussie had been trying to put forth, his idea of building a young Indian team.”

In the given scenario, it is obvious that India cannot afford eleven fresh faces to take charge. But what is more worrying is that they cannot even think of playing international cricket without the big names. Hence abandoning the gradation in the existing contract system, slapping show-cause notices and ‘resting’ players instead of dropping them. The official is as clear as he puts it: “We’re just too scared, just about of everything.”

Consider this: If Manoj Tiwary, the newly selected middle-order batsman from Bengal, fails to get going on the tour of Bangladesh, is the Indian board willing to give the 21-year-old another chance? What if Piyush Chawla, another 21-year-old, a leg-spinner from Uttar Pradesh, returns wicketless?

The selection committee has already gone on record saying that Tendulkar and Ganguly will be back for future tours. No harm, we say, but will the youngsters be continued with is the big question.

Is it not logical to question how the board allowed Virender Sehwag to play, despite the Najafgarh opener having played 61 matches without scoring even a single century. For the record, he broke the jinx with a knock of 114 against the listless Bermuda. In April 2005 he had scored 108 versus Pakistan in Kochi.

In deciding to pursue with bowlers like Rudra Pratap Singh and VRV Singh, and not trying out Ranadeb Bose or Joginder Sharma —domestic cricket’s highest wicket-takers—the selection committee has already taken a step back. Two years ago, the newly appointed coach Greg Chappell held a camp in Bangalore where Bose had got a call-in among the 30 best of the country. Then what?

Baroda’s Yusuf Pathan has been impressive with his all-round abilities but still has to remain under the shadows of an unfit Ramesh Powar. The fact that Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner from Baroda has been given his due in the Test format is only an indication of what can be done.

The question, though, as former India captain Srinivas Venkatraghavan puts it, is India willing to pursue with these players even if success doesn’t come immediately? Chappell, before he left, had said on record that for Indian cricket to come to terms with the existing international competition, a good seven to eight years will have to be spent on restructuring domestic cricket and giving youngsters the opportunities at the international level. Given India’s natural affinity to stick to the tried and tested, Chappell’s words seem as foreign as possible.

There is a history of wayward decision-making in India. Players have been picked and sacked, not until they’ve been found exceptional in the first couple of performances, or if there’s been no particular choice available.

Railways all-rounder Jai Prakash Yadav, no exceptional talent himself, is an example. “When I was dropped—that was more than just once or twice—I was never given a reason. Nobody came and told me, look, you just can’t score runs or see, you are not taking wickets, you don’t field well. I was just not in the next team list,” he says. “Not that I could dispute it, but I deserved a reason at least, somebody to tell me where I was lacking.”

Yadav is one of the many examples. Maharashtra opener Dhiraj Jadhav had once come as close to making it to the Indian team as he could and yet, that one final leap always eluded him. “I just thought I was unlucky. At that time, I just didn’t know what else I could’ve done,” he says now. And Mohammad Kaif is a current player to have been meted out that fate time and again.

One can only hope this isn’t the case for the ones in reckoning now. That Vengsarkar happens to be the chairman of selectors is the best possible news for the performing youngsters at the moment. If there’s a talent, says Vengsarkar, he’ll definitely play.

The problem, though, is not about the talented youngster. It’s whether India has come to a point where it needs to take a few courageous decisions.