Twenty to go. This is how the Indian team would be looking at their one-daycricket from now on. Twenty matches to go before the World Cup. And when thetime comes to play that first World Cup game, India should feel that they havelooked at all the options available till now and this is what we think is thebest. The best 15 players that gives us the best shot at the Cup.
I would like to think that the selectors are still looking and their net isstill spread wide out there, to catch players, showing either sparks of talentor strong performances.
At the end of the 20 matches, the Indian team should culminate into a unitthat has been formed after a genuinely exhausting exercise, that has lasted formore than a year, after tapping various alternatives.
The team that goes to the West Indies for the World Cup then should be a teamthat has each player worth his salt. Then, it does not matter his age, his pastor experience. It should be a player that excites the team management with hispromise at the time.
Based on these thoughts, I believe there should not be too much scrutiny ofthe team selected for the tri-series in Sri Lanka. Perhaps that energy of ourscould be preserved when the team for the World Cup is announced.
Dinesh Mongia, who played in the last World Cup, is back in the Indian teamafter a long absence. Whatever could be the stories floating around hisselection, I look at it as maturity on the part of the selectors.
They have showed that although youth is an important consideration in theirplanning they are not going to be obsessed with it. This selection is on pureperformance. Interestingly, though on English county performances.
Suddenly, county cricket performances have become more and more relevant forIndian cricket selections. We even have Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan stakingtheir claim for selection from England.
This also means that Indian players who do not play county cricket aresomewhat at a disadvantage. Mongia clearly would not have been back in thisIndian team if not for his contract with a certain county in England.
With India playing round the year and having international commitments now inJune, July and August and with our domestic season finishing much before that inApril, there are no match opportunities for fringe players to make a strong casefor selection, unless they are influential enough to get a county contract. Asituation that the BCCI could make note of.
So here we have Mongia's performances in England been rewarded, whileZaheer's have not. But it seems not for long, as Zaheer keeps sending thesestrong messages to the Indian selectors, through the only way you should, byoutstanding performances.
Anil Kumble's unbelievable perseverance as a bowler has got him back in thereckoning for one-day cricket, a possibility that was almost ruled out two yearsback as focus had shifted to youth and energy in the field.
Though he is not picked in the team for Sri Lanka, you can quite clearlygauge that he is a strong candidate for the Indian team for the World Cup. Bynot selecting him in the team but keeping him well informed about their longterm plans with him, the selectors have shown the virtue of communication.Importance of a dialogue between players and selectors can never beunder-estimated.
Kumble today is not in the Indian team but he is not unhappy or hurt, for hehas been motivated by the words passed on to him by the men in charge. Thiscontact between players and selectors helps keep the harmony in the dressingroom, so vital for winning performances.
Kumble has reached a stage in his career that he does not need one-day matchpractice, to excel if he has to, in the more important one-day matches later.
After 16 year of international cricket, Kumble is now predictably a goodbowler and its just a matter of the team management visualizing him bowling theway he does against certain batting oppositions in given match conditions.
Needless to say, it is going to be a tough outing for India as they take onSouth Africa and Sri Lanka in testing weather conditions. Even after that 4-1loss in the last one-day series in the West Indies, there is no denying the factthat India is still a very good one-day team. And unlike the West Indies, theywould be hoping that this time, they return with some answers and not, morequestions.
PTI
