Selection woes loom large over Indian cricket

This piece of writing (on the squad selection for the upcoming home series against New Zealand and T20 World Cup) may be a little late in its arrival, but its better late than never. A lot has already been said and written about the last assignment of the outgoing selection committee. But I believe everyone has their own way of looking at things and that is the fuel on which the entire business of sports critics runs.

Before I begin, let me pay due tribute to the career of arguably the most stylish Indian batsman of his generation, VVS Laxman. Another important pillar – that held together probably the most glorious period of Indian cricket – has finally called it a day. Speculations on his selection in the squad for the NZ series and he placing his individual aspirations before team’s interests have finally been put to rest. That he could have easily chosen to retire after playing the farewell test in his hometown Hyderabad and might have given himself a chance to reach the 9,000 runs milestone, has made him a greater person in my eyes than ever before.

It takes a man of great values to turn his back on such a tailor-made opportunity for a farewell match. VVS has always set examples for the coming generations to follow. Though numbers might not speak all about his talent and contributions, he will certainly be placed among the best to have played the game. His innings in the very famous Eden Test would always come up in discussions about the most stellar performances in the history of the game. The person replacing him in the squad would have big shoes to fill.

Coming back to the original agenda of selection of the squad for the NZ series and T20 World Cup, it disappointed more than it surprised me. Not that I was expecting radical changes in the squad; BCCI selection committees have never been known for that. But I sure was not expecting to see a couple of names that I can see and was expecting to see some that I cannot.

The biggest element of surprise was Piyush Chawla’s inclusion in both the squads. That would have been a surprise even if he would have possessed talent in the bowling department comparable to what Rohit Sharma has in batting, given his performance of late. His return to the team after such dismal shows in recent future in all forms of cricket did not go down well with anyone (I won’t trouble myself with the statistics; those could be found at various other sources). What was the basis of that move is beyond the grasp of a mere mortal.

Piyush Chawla has been included at the cost of a more promising young leg spinner Rahul Sharma. He did not get enough opportunities to prove himself before being dropped. I fail to understand the rationale behind this move. If at all Rahul Sharma paid the price for the alleged doping charges, this is truly a sorry state of affairs.

Moving on to another selection – that of Harbhajan Singh in the T20 World Cup squad. None would doubt his talent. He has good numbers against his name to back that up. But his recent performance both is domestic and county circuit won’t testify for his inclusion. Given the fact that he is in the squad, he is almost certain to make it to the playing eleven – you don’t generally leave out such experienced players to warm your bench, at least not in India. Let us hope that he comes back to his lethal self that made him claim the top spot in Indian bowling in past.

Yuvraj Singh has been reinstated to the Indian team for T20 World Cup. Before I go on and say anything about his selection, let me congratulate him; for he is a real fighter. I think the selectors have hurried on to their decision in this case. He must have played a couple of games before being selected. But this could still be passed as a calculated risk because he might play in the T20 matches against NZ and be aware of his standing. If he is fit and does play in the World Cup, that would be a big boon for India; for we all know how devastating and impactful he can be.

Another decision that surprised me was of Ishant Sharma being picked for the test series. A lot has been said about the effort that he puts in and his commitment unlike Rohit Sharma’s. But the numbers don’t reflect likewise. Besides, he has not featured in a single game after his recovery from injury. Opportunities to play in the national team cannot be handed out like this – that too coming on back of not so impressive performances.

Similarly, Suresh Raina has been rewarded for his good showing in the limited overs game by giving him a test berth. He is a class act in any limited overs game, but has failed to prove himself one in the longer format. These are certainly not good indications to the youngsters waiting on the fringe for their chances.
Gambhir’s reinstatement as the vice-captain in place of Kohli could be termed nothing but a vague decision. If Gambhir has done reasonably well in this period, what did Kohli do wrong? Though I believe this might come as a blessing in disguise to Kohli who should just be left alone with his batting given the sublime touch he is in currently.

There are a few more names that I could go on and talk about. But before that lets wait for the new selection panel to join the office and see how they fare with all the responsibilities or maybe liabilities that the outgoing committee has left for them.

P.S. I write columns on Cricket for TheCouchExpert
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Freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved

A couple of hours away from the 65^th Independence Day (in fact it’d already be August 15^th in India), numerous thoughts cloud my mind; thoughts that could find no manifestation in words. After several unsuccessful attempts I could finally put together all the courage to give shape to those sporadic but worthwhile thoughts. Suddenly I started experiencing lack of proper media – a Facebook status update would restrict me in terms of space.

A post on Blogspot seemed to be a good idea; but then I thought – “Do I really need to post this?”
I could not figure out an answer.
So keeping all those doubts aside, I began writing; my laptop, I thought, would be the best place to keep it.

I had never before found myself so engrossed with such thoughts. There could be various reasons behind that – Maybe because I have been living abroad for some time now; or maybe I have started to grow up and think about things other than me and my immediate surroundings; or maybe I am at a vantage point from where I could easily look at what should be and should not be.

Are we really independent?
I know what a typical answer would be - “Hell yeah! Are you out of your minds?”
But spare a thought to this. Aren’t we enslaved by our own thoughts? Aren’t we engulfed by so much of self-interest that we don’t even bother to think beyond that?
A good half an hour and you might yourself start pondering over many more such questions?

I’m not here to question anyone; or to change anyone’s thoughts or opinions. I’d be much happier if that feeling comes on its own. Believe me; I’m not going to preach patriotism or nationalism over the next couple of paragraphs. All I’m trying to do is vent out my emotions – yes, emotions!

The dire situation of women in our society is what hurts me the most. I’m not trying to be a feminist. But imagine the plight of a woman. She might not feel safe the moment she steps outside the doors of her house; sometimes not even when inside them. A civilization can certainly survive with poverty, with not so prospering economy and high fuel prices, but with such disgustful attitude toward a section of the humanity that should be dealt with utmost respect is doubtful.

An extremely sarcastic person would say – “We are a democracy in the real sense! Everyone is free to do what they please to”.
He won’t be wrong in saying so. Terms like freedom and democracy have been so badly misconstrued that I doubt today are we even ready to accept the real meanings of those terms. A face-to-face with reality might scare us to hell.

Even a hardcore philanthropist would turn into an opposite upon very deep scrutiny of our newspapers daily - newspapers that are nowadays leading to nothing but cynicism. But they are not the only ones to be blamed. May be that is the ugly truth! Our TV News Channels have gone a step ahead, or should I say a whole stairwell ahead. In this case I won’t mind blaming them completely. If this continues for a long time, people of our country might lose faith in the system and might never expect good things coming their way. That would be doomsday.

The part of this whole chapter that bothers me the most is our attitude toward all that. We are either very critically vocal about them or we are just too cool to care. Some would very proudly write the whole issue off saying – “Things are beyond repair now”
But it’s never too late to mend. It is indeed not too late.
As someone rightly said – “The first step to solving any problem is recognizing that there is one”.
That certainly doesn’t mean declaring the problem as unassailable.
Only when you dream, would you achieve. Tell me one Indian that doesn’t dream of a nation where things were in the best possible shape. So we are already one step down that path. All we need to do is take further steps –just for some time keeping all our individual interests aside and looking at a rather bigger picture than just our own selves.

There certainly are many more thoughts still floating in the lake of my mind; but it seems now is not the right time to put them all together.
By now I have also figured out the answer to the question that I asked myself in the beginning. That is precisely why you are reading this.

With this, I bid all the readers a very happy Independence Day. Jai Hind!

P.S. I’ve borrowed the title of this article from the former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt