The pair of quickies, Kerala’s S. Sreesanth, 23, and Punjab’s strapping Vikram Raj Vir Singh, 21, promises to answer long-standing calls for pace and bounce, while 19-year-old Suresh Raina from Uttar Pradesh has the talent to make a middle-order berth his own. His 17-year-old team-mate, legspinner Piyush Chawla (also from UP), has also raised visions of being a long-term investment.
The BCCI and the coach have plumped for youth, hoping to inject some fresh magic into a team rich with experience. The combination should make for a heady concoction, especially in the coming weeks in a Test series against a beleaguered England side. It may well go far beyond the current series too, as Indian cricket reinvents itself, shedding the cloak of sameness it has worn for a couple of years now.
"We had to keep an eye on the future," chairman of selectors Kiran More told Outlook in a chat on the eve of the Nagpur Test. "We have such wonderful talent, they had to be given a break...and sooner rather than later. We don’t believe there could have been a better opportunity to blood these lads than a home Test series."
Coach Greg Chappell is, expectedly, more direct. "It’s part of the policy of team regeneration," he says. "We have got some experienced players but we need to be able to bring young ones in and let them work their way in so that they get some experience and learn from the seniors." He’s been talking about "regeneration" consistently, especially so as not to be caught in a situation where many seniors fade out at the same time.
The selectors and the team management have also been encouraged by the energy and application younger players have brought to the one-day side, driving India to a 6-1 win over Sri Lanka, 2-2 against South Africa and a 4-1 victory in Pakistan. Ideally, they’ll want to stretch such dynamism into the Test squad as well.
Each of the four newcomers in the squad can expect to be given his maiden Test cap some time during the series against England. "Everybody has to start somewhere," the coach says. "You don’t get experience sitting on the sidelines. It’s important that they get picked when they are ready. An important part of selection is knowing when to pick someone."
Chappell adds: "The players I’m looking at have got the talent. The other aspects one is looking for are temperament, competitive instinct and tenacity. I’m interested in what makes champions." Unless the young lads are given a fair chance to perform on the big stage, nobody will ever have a real idea whether they have the qualities that Chappell and company are searching for.
"Fielding is a major concern even in the Test matches," says More. "Look at how Pakistan was running singles and twos throughout the series. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif do lift our fielding up a bit, but we really need to work on that area. I believe the induction of fresh legs in the team will lift the overall quality of the fielding." The newfound mantra around enthusiastic youngsters does leave the likes of Murali Kartik—man of the match in the last Test that he played—Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar guessing about their future. Kartik, the 27-year-old left-arm spinner, may have been judged harshly after being smashed around in a one-day game in Peshawar. By all accounts, Agarkar could be back in the reckoning during the one-day series, but Zaheer Khan may have to turn in a lot of work on improving his fitness to get back to leading the Indian pace attack.
Talking of the quicker bowlers, it is clear that Team India has taken a leaf out of England’s book—looking for young, tall bowlers to provide the pace. England was deliberate in their grooming of Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson. The foursome, along with swing bowlers Simon Jones and Paul Collingwood, played a major part in the team’s Ashes conquest last year.
"We worked out that we need some pace and some bounce," Chappell says. "We looked to some young bowlers to provide that for us." Sreesanth, who made an impact with his lively bowling in the one-dayers in Pakistan, V.R.V. Singh—reckoned to be the best-equipped pacer in the land now—and 22-year-old Munaf Patel have all caught the selectors’ eyes. "We are looking for variety in our pace attack as well. We were stuck with three left-arm seamers in Pakistan," More says, indicating that the selectors are willing to cast their net far and wide. A home series will be the best place to find if they have landed a good catch.
