Selectors’ U-25 fixation bad news for fringe players

These days, the excitement in waiting before a selection applies as much to the senior team as to the India A aspirants.

These days, the excitement in waiting before a selection applies as much to the senior team as to the India A aspirants. After being sidelined, players like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel and Dinesh Mongia are fast looking at avenues where an opportunity to play and showcase their return to form can be possible.

They are looking ahead to the India A tour of Kenya and Zimbabwe later this month. While Harbhajan may already be away, playing county cricket in Surrey, the rest are in contention.

There lies the crunch. If the selectors and their ideas are to be believed, many of these individuals may still not find themselves boarding the flight when the time arrives. The selectors, it should be mentioned, are fixated with the basic idea of picking a team of young, “less than 25-year-old”, cricketers.

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By that logic Sehwag and Mongia can kiss their chances goodbye. A top selector is also ready to confirm that there seem to be lesser chances of these two players making it.

On the face of it, Sehwag’s omission from the India A team—if that happens—may be seen as the player’s refusal to demote himself from the ranks of being a senior to a member of the ‘fringe-squad’. However, if the selector is to be believed, Sehwag is very much looking forward to find a place in the team. The selectors, though, are not likely to push his case citing reasons for having a young squad.

The same cannot be said of Kaif, Pathan, Raina and Munaf who are very much on their way into the squad. While Pathan, Munaf and Raina are below 25 years of age and therefore fill the required criteria, Kaif (28) is likely to be given the benefit and get picked as skipper.

The right-hand batsman reached Chennai on Thursday evening to be at the MRF Academy and join Munaf and Pathan in the ongoing Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Challenge Trophy.

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Raina, on the other hand, is fit from the knee injury but the selectors will look at whether the player is match-fit. The selectors also took time to find more about injured Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary who is busy regaining fitness from the elbow injury in Bangladesh.

The selectors sit down for the tough job on Saturday. The Twenty20 probables will also be picked that day.