SUJITH SOMASUNDER for Bangalore. Navjot Sidhu for Mohali. Sanjay Man-jrekar for Bombay. Are horses getting chosen for reasons other than the race? To whip up local interest, keep turnstiles swinging, TV viewerships soaring?
SUJITH SOMASUNDER for Bangalore. Navjot Sidhu for Mohali. Sanjay Man-jrekar for Bombay. Are horses getting chosen for reasons other than the race? To whip up local interest, keep turnstiles swinging, TV viewerships soaring?
Its another thing the three failed to clinch a niche as partner for Sachin Tend-ulkar. But the circumstances leading to their selection has set tongues wagging about local boys being played on home turfa mood-setter tactic that, demonstrably, can be self-defeating.
Somasunder, who had a dream 94-95 season, had a modest Ranji and Irani Trophy this year, and had just one good outing in the Challenger Trophy before he was picked for the first two Titan Cup matches where a record six Kannadigas played.
Sidhu, ignored for the first three faceoffs because "there was no yardstick to pick him" (chairman, selectors, Ramakant Desais words), was chosen for matches four and five on the basis of a century against Jammu & Kashmir after Saurav Ganguly was injured in match three.
And Manjrekar, dumped from the one-day squad for being such a slow coach, joined the team in Mumbai, on the strength of a century against Saurashtra, because Sidhu had "badly bruised his right forearm". When and how, if at all, Sidhu sustained the injury is a mystery. Manjre-kar, on his part, scored less runs (7) than the number of partners (8) Tendulkar has had in the past three years.
That India doesnt have a surefire squad in spite of the World Cup, the England series, tournaments in Singapore, Shar-jah, Sri Lanka, Canada and at home this year is no credit to the selectors. But veteran cricket writer Arvind Lavakare, who has seen Raj Singh Dungarpur and Polly Umrigar in that role, says no selector will deliberately pick a bad player. "The chairman asks his colleagues for their squads. The common names get in automatically; the rest are openly debated." Still, the feeling is palpable. Says Bang-alore-based sociologist M.N. Srinivas: "Theres some evidence of a regional push. But just how long the chosen ones manage to survive depends on how they fare once they are in." Robin Singh, for one, hasnt harmed his chances.
If India is looking to build a side for the future, surely theres a better way of going about it than playing 33-years-olds, and constantly fiddling with the lineup. Ask Bob Woolmer. He picked Lance Klusener in place of Brian McMillan. The youngster proved expensive, but he was deemed an "acceptable risk", for futures sake.
Tags