Thursday, December 13, 2007

Selected Sixteen

Selected Sixteen
[Indian Cricket Tour to Australia]

Once again the credibility of selection committee of Indian cricket team is place under the microscopic observation. The tradition of coming up with shocking inclusion was kept intact when yesterday board secretary announced “Sixteen Selected” to tour the kangaroo land. It was looked a few days back that selection process of Indian cricketing team is started to run on the reasonable and transparent level when the selection committee announce the probable 24 touring and out of form Shewag was not in the list. The message went to the world of players, at least now the performance at domestic level will get recognition but what happens on the day of picking the team is unsolved mystery. Look at the list of selected sixteen
Anil Kumbale [captain]
M. S. Dhoni [Vice Captain]
Vriendra Shewag
Wasim Jaffar
Sachin Tendulkar
V V S Laxman
Rahul Dravid
Saurav Ganguli
Yuvraj Singh
Harbhajan Singh
R P Singh
Zahir Khan
Irfan Pathan
Ishant Sharma
Dinesh Kartik
Pankaj Singh

My objection is not for the sudden inclusion of Shewag, eventually I was surprised not to see his name in the probable 24 list, but for the pseudo reasoning tactics adopted my the board, why not they are able to generate courage to admit the mistake? How long will they shelter their shortcomings under the fitness cover of players? This it is said fitness of Gambhir forced the selection of Shewag, my question is that even if it was true, why the preference is given to shewag [not in probable in 24] over the in form Aakash Chopara [included in 24].

Inclusion of Shewag has made the process of playing eleven more complicated; accommodating Yuvraj was a burning problem for the team management. If we go with the reports coming out about the Indian playing eleven in Australia, not only Yuvraj but inclusion of Laxman [most successful batsman against Australia] seems to be remote possibility. It is said that Indian think tank is planning to go into the field with combination of 6 batsman and 5 bowlers that means the first five slots will be occupied by Jaffar, Shewag, Dravid, Sachin & Saurav than Dhoni and five bowlers to follow. Over the years spin is the strength of Indian attack and when playing with five bowlers, inclusion of two spinners is most reasonable. Selecting only two spinners for Australia tour is yet another question mark on the selection process.

Looking at the team selected I think the playing eleven will be as follows [in bating order]
1] Virendra Shewag
2] Wasim Jaffar
3] Rahul Dravid
4] Sachin Tendulkar
5] Sourav Ganguli
6] V V S Laxman
7] M S Dhoni
8] Irfan Pathan
9] Kumale
10] Zahir Khan
11] R P Singh / Harbhajan

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