Opinion More Qs than As

If the selection of this Indian team were the result of tests conducted on a patient,the diagnosis would be of great concern.

September 30, 2011 01:00 AM IST First published on: Sep 30, 2011 at 01:00 AM IST

If the selection of this Indian team were the result of tests conducted on a patient,the diagnosis would be of great concern. Fast bowlers are as rare as a dry day in a Mumbai monsoon,a player is recovering from surgery a month and a half after it was thought he was fine to play and a left arm spinner’s name has been erased from the data base that stores cricket records. And the captain,like a double shift taxi,continues to be pressed into service.

I guess little can be done in the immediate future about the state of new ball bowlers in India but if they are dropping off like autumn leaves it should be a matter of concern. I presume there is a long-term plan for the development and maintenance of pacers,but this might be a good time to dust it off the shelves.

And in a land where spinners aren’t exactly blooming in spring either,Pragyan Ojha must feel a bit like a DMK minister these days. In recent times,Harbhajan Singh,Piyush Chawla,Amit Mishra,R Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja and now Rahul Sharma have been picked ahead of him. Presumably he has been left out now because Jadeja is back and he was earlier because Chawla could bat and he was earlier because Mishra was around. In the city he comes from,there is a locality called Koranti ( after the quarantine hospital in that area),and he must think he has been issued a residence permit there. This is harsh.

But Indian cricket needs to look deeper issues in the eye. On August 10 Virender Sehwag was thought fit enough to open the batting for India in a test match. He is now “yet to recover” for a one-day game to be played on October 14. There is no known record of an injury in the interim. So either he was played in August when he wasn’t fit or there is some other reason behind his exclusion now. Neither situation is very healthy. I suspect the first is truer but like so many matters in cricket,there are questions but no answers.

Curious case of Ishant Sharma

My understanding is that the National Cricket Academy has to certify a player fit before he can be selected and so,presumably,Sehwag was passed fit and found his way to England. It could happen again and we would continue to talk of injury management rather than practice it. Sehwag is not the only case. Ishant Sharma’s announcement that he needs ankle surgery but that he will keep playing till the end of the tour of Australia is equally worrisome given our history of players breaking down on tour. Either Ishant will be fully fit or he will be unfit. I am not sure there is a state in between.

Just as worrisome is the situation with Dhoni. In England,his fingers were very sore and he was clearly in need of a break. It was just as clear that if he were to play the one-dayers against England in India,the only break he could get was during the Champions League. Now both,the Champions League and the series against England are BCCI events and I really do believe that it is upto the BCCI to set the priority given that players are contracted to it. Ditto with the IPL. In an ideal world,the BCCI must decide whether Sehwag undergoes surgery or plays for the Delhi Daredevils; or whether Dhoni rests his fingers and body or plays for the Chennai Super Kings. The player might have a preference but it shouldn’t count. That is where the new system in England,and the one Australia seek to emulate,is so sound in its conception. The coach and the general manager of the team take a decision on whether a player plays or rests. They set the priority.

That is why I have never understood the principle of a player asking for a break. The group that manages him,and indeed the team,must take the call and if their priorities are clear,that is a very easy decision to take. The IPL,and the Champions League,exploded,it didn’t evolve. Just like you can’t build an airport and think of how to get there later you cannot create a giant like the IPL or the Champions League without first deciding what role it is going to play in the context of the national team.

Organisations must evolve to reflect changing times. You can no longer keep accounts in yellowing ledgers or continue to have selectors representing zones years after the Ranji Trophy went open.

But even that wouldn’t matter to Pragyan Ojha cast aside as he is in his ward in Koranti.