The five supposedly wise men of Indian cricket; namely the Indian senior selection committee have put their heads together and conjured up the following team of fifteen valiant warriors who will don team India colours during the first and second test matches scheduled to be played later this month against the men from old blighty......
Well, the first eleven players almost picked themselves, with the highly crucial number six batting position being the only bone of contention, the same was a virtual toss up between Dhoni acolyte Suresh Raina and the pied piper of Punjab Yuvraj Singh, with Yuvraj Singh pipping Raina at the post thanks to a superlative double ton in the Duleep trophy fixtures and a fifty plus score and five wicket haul against the men from England in a warm up fixture.......
Prolonged discussions must have certainly been held with regard to the bowling component; while Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha all but picked themselves, the point of discussion would have certainly been the third spinner and third pacers slot; well Ishant Sharma and Bhajji Paa occupy those two slots for now on the basis of their experience, acumen and records at the highest level.......
As always, yours truly tends to disagree with the five wise men on more than a couple of issues; one with regard to the reserve opener, middle order batsman and the third medium pacer; giving Murali Vijay a renewed lease of life at this level makes very little cricketing sense to yours truly, agreed that he did notch up a double ton in the Irani trophy fixture against Rajasthan but his less than sterling exploits in the more than fair number of opportunities provided to him thus far certainly did not merit a second chance.......
Issuing a veiled threat to the present incumbents i.e. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir must have been the only reason behind the inclusion of a reserve opener and while I am all for the inclusion, the slot should have gone to Ajinkya Rahane who has excelled in the limited opportunities extended to him in the same slot in the shorter versions of the game.......
Covering for injury and having a back up for insurance against injuries and so on does indeed make profound cricketing sense, but the measure would only prove to be efficacious if you put the right man in the right slot and poor old Manoj Tiwary must surely be shaking his noggin' in consternation trying to figure out what more he needs to do in order to wrest the highly elusive Indian test cap.......
Ishant Sharma has done little or nothing of note ever since making a successful comeback from a career threatening knee operation and certainly did not warrant a place in the side in my humble estimation; my pick for the third seamers slot would have been the slippery Ashok Dinda simply because he is in sparkling form even as we speak........
Reams have been wasted and considerable air time devoted to discussions regarding Harbhajan Singh's selection in team India colours; well the five supposedly five men have plumped for him in all their infinite wisdom and yours truly certainly backs their selection as Bhajji Paa certainly did exhibit reasonable form during the recently concluded English county season and garnered a four wicket haul against the very same opposition during a World Twenty 20 World Cup fixture, infact, I would venture as far as saying that Ashwin and Bhajji would be my two picks as spinners in the first eleven for the simple reason that Harbhajan has more than four hundred test wickets to his credit and is a much better batsman and fielder than Pragyan Ojha on any given day of the week..........
Here's hoping that all's well that ends well and wishing team India the very best of luck in their forthcoming home series........
THE TEAM/SQUAD FOR THE FIRST TWO TEST MATCHES: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket keeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha........
Well, the first eleven players almost picked themselves, with the highly crucial number six batting position being the only bone of contention, the same was a virtual toss up between Dhoni acolyte Suresh Raina and the pied piper of Punjab Yuvraj Singh, with Yuvraj Singh pipping Raina at the post thanks to a superlative double ton in the Duleep trophy fixtures and a fifty plus score and five wicket haul against the men from England in a warm up fixture.......
Prolonged discussions must have certainly been held with regard to the bowling component; while Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha all but picked themselves, the point of discussion would have certainly been the third spinner and third pacers slot; well Ishant Sharma and Bhajji Paa occupy those two slots for now on the basis of their experience, acumen and records at the highest level.......
As always, yours truly tends to disagree with the five wise men on more than a couple of issues; one with regard to the reserve opener, middle order batsman and the third medium pacer; giving Murali Vijay a renewed lease of life at this level makes very little cricketing sense to yours truly, agreed that he did notch up a double ton in the Irani trophy fixture against Rajasthan but his less than sterling exploits in the more than fair number of opportunities provided to him thus far certainly did not merit a second chance.......
Issuing a veiled threat to the present incumbents i.e. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir must have been the only reason behind the inclusion of a reserve opener and while I am all for the inclusion, the slot should have gone to Ajinkya Rahane who has excelled in the limited opportunities extended to him in the same slot in the shorter versions of the game.......
Covering for injury and having a back up for insurance against injuries and so on does indeed make profound cricketing sense, but the measure would only prove to be efficacious if you put the right man in the right slot and poor old Manoj Tiwary must surely be shaking his noggin' in consternation trying to figure out what more he needs to do in order to wrest the highly elusive Indian test cap.......
Ishant Sharma has done little or nothing of note ever since making a successful comeback from a career threatening knee operation and certainly did not warrant a place in the side in my humble estimation; my pick for the third seamers slot would have been the slippery Ashok Dinda simply because he is in sparkling form even as we speak........
Reams have been wasted and considerable air time devoted to discussions regarding Harbhajan Singh's selection in team India colours; well the five supposedly five men have plumped for him in all their infinite wisdom and yours truly certainly backs their selection as Bhajji Paa certainly did exhibit reasonable form during the recently concluded English county season and garnered a four wicket haul against the very same opposition during a World Twenty 20 World Cup fixture, infact, I would venture as far as saying that Ashwin and Bhajji would be my two picks as spinners in the first eleven for the simple reason that Harbhajan has more than four hundred test wickets to his credit and is a much better batsman and fielder than Pragyan Ojha on any given day of the week..........
Here's hoping that all's well that ends well and wishing team India the very best of luck in their forthcoming home series........
THE TEAM/SQUAD FOR THE FIRST TWO TEST MATCHES: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket keeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha........
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