Rest of India squad: Many questions, few answers

With just days to go before the Kiwis land one expected some clarity about the composition of the Indian Test team. But the 14-man Rest of I...

With just days to go before the Kiwis land one expected some clarity about the composition of the Indian Test team. But the 14-man Rest of India squad announced today showed that there still remains some ambiguity about the few vacant spots in the national side. It wasn’t just the shocking presence of Rohan Gavaskar for the Irani Cup game against Mumbai which raised eyebrows but there were other pressing issues which went unaddressed.

The puzzling choices made today by the selectors threw up many questions and few answers.

Why Rohan Gavaskar?
The left-handed batsman has mysteriously made giant strides towards the national team lately. First came his contentious selection to the India A team for the tour to England and now the selection to the Rest of India squad. How Rohan falls in the selectors’ scheme of things, when they are thinking of a Test side, is difficult to fathom. And the fact that he is preferred over the likes of Mohammad Kaif, Hemang Badani, SS Das and Sridharan Sriram adds to mystery. The only consolation could be two tour games before the Tests when the worthy may get a look in.

Story continues below this ad

Where are the openers?
The Rest of India squad has no genuine opener. Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar did open in the last home series but things are different today. Sehwag has shown reluctance to pad up first while Bangar too is mainly seen as an all-rounder. With the Aussie tour to follow the Kiwi series, there was an urgent need to test a specialist. Wasim Jaffer will turn for Mumbai and be under microscope but what about SS Das? Since Sehwag is keen for the No.6 spot and VVS Laxman has denied his ‘If asked, I will open’ statement, the pairing up of Das with Bangar wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

Yuvraj or Kaif?
Is this a message that in the race for a Test spot, Yuvraj has piped Kaif to the post? In case its true, it would have been a photo finish. Be it the Natwest Trophy or the World Cup the two young ODI specialists have gone neck and neck. Maybe it was Yuvraj’s ton that made the difference. But aren’t we talking about a Test player?

Who will be the pacers?
This race seems to have gone to the wire. With Ashish Nehra still doubtful, there are vacancies in the pace department. Irani Trophy will once again see a contest between Avishkar Salvi, Amit Bhandari and L Balaji. Salvi’s advantage: He won’t be bowling to Sachin Tendulkar.

At last, one possible answer
The spin debate seems to be over. By picking Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Murali Karthik the selectors it seems have made their mind.

Story continues below this ad

THE SQUAD
Saurav Ganguly, Sanjay Bangar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, L Balaji, Amit Bhandari, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Murali Kartik and Rohan Gavaskar.