A disappointing experience

By G. Viswanath

MUMBAI, DEC. 31. It is unmistakable that the five national selectors are not enjoying anymore selecting an Indian team. For chairman, Mr. Chandu Borde, one among the first three Indian batsmen to cross the 3000 mark in Test cricket and acknowledged as a fine batsman in his times, it has been, sadly to say, a very disappointing, nay a frustrating experience in the last three months.

It was sheer accident that saw him once again become the chairman of the selection committee at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Annual Generalbody Meeting in Jaipur in late September; a majority of the West Zone members of the BCCI, unhappy with the way Ajit Wadekar had gone about in functioning as chairman.

Mr. Borde was chairman of the committee, a decade ago. Then, there was a feeling among people, in Pune in particular, that he was not being good to Maharashtra's No. 1 batsman Milind Gunjal; he did not consider him for the tour to England in 1986. It was an eventful evening in Bombay when the selectors met to pick the squad for England. Gunjal was deemed a certainty, but he was not picked and Pune wept for the son of the soil. Mr. Borde, regarded by many as one of the shrewdest in the game and with an eye for spotting talent and passing quick judgment, was himself disappointed, but probably did not feel a sense of remorse, having been a party in not choosing Gunjal for the tour.

Thursday (December 30) was another day when Mr. Borde was at loss for words while replying to questions, especially with regard to Mohammad Azharuddin and Sameer Dighe. He could not articulate. The unfortunate thing is that only the chairman is made to meet the press. Mr. Borde's countenance was a literal give away that he wanted Azharuddin in the team for the Carlton & United series in Australia.

He did not appear to be miffed after enduring a marathon four hour meeting, much of which was spent in presenting his colleagues' point of view to Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar and patiently listening to them, mainly on what has been a vexing issue for three months. Well, even after six meetings he was not able to convince people in Australia that Azharuddin's experience is necessary to provide stability to the middle order. Well. Mr. Borde could have a created a crisis situation by picking Azharuddin, but finally yielded to pressures.

Well, Mr. Borde is 65, a seasoned and mature man. Hence he was able to give answers purely for public knowledge, not really revealing what exactly happened for 240 minutes at the Mumbai Cricket Association office. He said his committee's policy was adhering to the ``young team'' principle, without realising that Robin Singh was 36, Dighe 31, Javagal Srinath 30 and Venkatesh Prasad 30.

Messrs. Madan Lal, Anil Deshpande, Thirumalai Sekhar and Ashok Malhotra are much younger to Mr. Borde and were active players when the latter was the Chairman. Except for Deshpande, who has not played for India, the others have donned India's cap. They represent different zones, but are generally seen as people who will see only cricketing merit in selecting a player. It is learnt that one of the selectors said at the meeting that, ``they have been made selectors at the AGM of the BCCI and as such they are accountable to Indian cricket.''

The selectors are upset, not only because the Indians lost the Adelaide and Melbourne Tests by a big margin, but also because the team management have not given opportunities to off- spinner Harbhajan Singh and medium pacer Thirunavukarasu Kumaran. The fact that they had to do the dirty job of dropping Kumaran for the tri-series must have made them cross with Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.

Indeed, they would not want anymore a four hour meeting to finalise a team of 14, 15 or 16. On their part, they did not pursue the matter relating to Ajay Jadeja, once they were told about the BCCI President Mr. A. C. Muthiah's sound reasoning and decision. Mr. Muthiah, has been at the helm for three months. He has seen the pressures and pulls in Board meetings, but on Thursday he felt it with regard to team selection.

Surely, he would not like to be a partaker in deciding the fate of a player. But on Thursday he was steadfast in his assessment of Jadeja's fitness. He strictly went by Dr. Mark Ferguson and Dr. Tushar Mankad's reports and stated that Jadeja should complete the rehabilitation programme and get fully fit.

And this saved the selectors from what could have proved to be a troublesome issue. But after another round of a selection committee meeting, this season's sixth, the selectors, have given only the impression that picking an Indian team is a real chore, not one that has given them joy. To Mr. Borde in particular.

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