2 is company...3 is crowd...what is 23?

So, finally the suspense is out. The team for the Bangladesh tour declared. And would you believe it, 23 people board the Kolkata-Bangladesh Flight for the tour. 23? And I thought we were going to Bangladesh? Or is it the Himalayas? Would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the BCCI meeting, must have been something !

Some very pertinent points came out from the selection. The biggest would undoubtedly have to be the exclusion of Tendulkar from the ODI team, a first for him, a euphemism for dropping him. A tinge of sadness may be associated with the same, but then, everyone comes with a shelf life. Tendulkar’s may just be on the verge of ending. I am no-one to announce things about him, about his retirement, but frankly, I don’t see him play ODIs for long. It may just be a question of him wanting to retire with a bang, before he gets “rested” permanently. Time will tell. May I be proved wrong here, but the gut feeling is not too good for him.

So, we have rested two of the “oldies” to blood in a young Team. The World Cup average age was 27.33. It’s 24.5 now. A definite, conscious effort towards the same. And a step in the right direction as well, given that the ODIs is fast becoming a game of not only batting or bowling skills, but also exuberant fielding, and the ability of being able to adapt to the transition that ODI cricket has seen. Don’t think many in the World Cup Team understood the same. Hopefully the current crop would be able to understand the same better.

Secondly, I must say that I am very impressed by the selection of Dinesh Mongia. I was not that big a fan of his when he was chosen over VVS Laxman in the 2003 World Cup, but then I followed his game for his county, Leistershire. On foreign pitches, he batted decently well, and notched up enough runs for the world to take notice. However, more than his batting, it was his bowling that stuck. Invariably, he was a partnership breaker, even on those spinner unfriendly tracks, to add to his consistent 4.5 runs per over economy. I want to stick my neck out here and call Dinesh Mongia a spinning all rounder replacement for Irfan Pathan, who would bat at his number 5 or 6, and bowl his quota of ten overs regularly.

Sehwag’s inclusion is baffling, and so is his exclusion from the Test team. The only reason I can think of is that, excluding Tendulkar and Ganguly was imperative, and had Sehwag been “rested” as well, the experience would have been just not there. Although, it’s a fact that Sehwag’s batting at the top makes you feel that he’s just out of the NCA, playing his first International, and in the nervousness that has ensued, has managed the airy-fairy shots that he always manages to get out to. Always. Anyways, as usual, could just be his last series for a long time, if he does not perform. (I don’t want to get into the Sehwag-Dravid syndicate debate here, sometimes, the media seems to read too much into it, just like reading too much into the Karan Johar-SRK syndicate!)

The rest of team is on expected lines. Manoj Tewary is one player to look out for, was impressed by his batting in the Mumbai-Bengal Ranji finals at the Wankhede. His batting has that fearlessness which one had seen in Tendulkar in his first few series, the fearlessness that made him continue batting even after getting hit on his nose by Waqar, the fearlessness that made him take the ball from a bewildered Azharuddin and bowl the last over of the Hero Cup Semi final against South Africa.

I just hope that most of the other players get the kind of chances that are needed to prove their mettle, and do not end up becoming a one series wonder/blunder.

The rap on the knuckles of the Selection Team by the BCCI is very evidently seen, in the statements made by Niranjan Shah, in the press conference after the selection meeting. Evidently, Vengsarkar wasn’t too impressed at the directives he had received from the higher brass at the BCCI. The “Colonel” would soon learn the ways of the BCCI working, the hard way. Many before him did, and he would too. In a way, ‘Sunny’ Gavaskar is a smart chap. Talks, writes and expresses a loads of gyaan about Indian Cricket, but when it comes to doing the “dirty” work of being a part of the system, he stays out.

My take on the Test Team would follow soon.