Time to think ahead

THE WHOLE world was absolutely gaga over the new millennium and celebrations were rampant everywhere. Unfortunately four weeks into the new millennium the Indian cricket team had no occasion to celebrate. Tendulkar and his boys were outplayed badly in both versions of the game Down Under, which justifiably has not gone well with the passionate followers of the game. It reached a stage where even the die-hard cricket buffs never bothered watching the last few games of the triangular series. Never before has there been a tour without some gains coming out of it despite the team losing abroad. The policy of building a team for the future has not exactly worked half as expected. It would be better to adopt that policy starting from the South African series at home. Anyway, enough has been written about the dismal performance in Australia and it is now time to think about the future course of action. At the moment the only way for the Indian team is up because it can't get any worse than this.

A thoroughly dejected Tendulkar has insisted that the youngsters have to be persisted with as they have gone through a very demanding tour. He had to wage a lone battle in the Test series and was not at his best in the one-dayers. The sparkle that one normally sees in his eyes was also missing in the latter stages of the tri-series. Once again, the same debate of captaincy affecting his individuality has emerged. As a captain he is still learning and one should bear in mind that he has had to lead abroad mostly. One possible shortcoming is that he has to resign to the fact that he has to use whatever resources he has on hand rather than think about what he should have had. In other words, he must instil confidence in his colleagues and make the fringe players feel that they belong in the dressing room.

The senior team may have caused great anguish to cricket lovers but it was more than compensated by the Youth team winning the World Cup. In a new role as a commentator, yours truly really enjoyed watching the youngsters perform. The most remarkable aspect of the team was the maturity exhibited by all the members. It was a great sight to see the way they combined and every one knew the role he had to perform. A fair bit of credit must be given to Roger Binny, the junior National coach, because the team got together just for three days before departure. Compare it with the Sri Lankans who had a camp for about ten weeks before the tournament!

There are at least six to seven cricketers from the Youth side who can be groomed for the senior side in the next couple of seasons. Considering the number of vacant slots in the Indian team it won't be a surprise if a couple of them get picked. One cricketer who is almost ready is Reetinder Sodhi. His strength is his commitment and knows his limitations. He also has a mature head on his young shoulders and pulled the young team out of trouble time and again. Another cricketer who has to be taken seriously is the dapper wicket keeper Ajay Ratra. He kept extremely well throughout the World Cup and the best thing about him is that he does his job without any fuss.

The wicket keeper's slot has been a problem after Mongia and the others who have played since are into their thirties. This is the time Ratra should be encouraged and groomed, as he will serve for a long time. The openers of the Youth team, Ravneet Ricky and Manish Sharma have provided hope as they batted with panache. Sharma looks better equipped in terms of technique but Ricky is gritty and delivers the goods. Yuveraj Singh is another exciting prospect capable of delivering hefty blows and there is that quiet, sensible left-handed batsman Niraj Patel. All these young talented cricketers need to be nurtured by way of making them play as many representative matches as possible from now on. The tricky thing is in picking them at the right time in the senior National side.

One of the most curious factors of the Youth side was that there was nobody from the stronger states in the Ranji Trophy viz., Karnataka, Bengal, Mumbai, Delhi. One would have thought that the junior ranks in these states would be very strong. Or has the game really reached out to the other parts of the country and is junior cricket better organised? Certainly there is a lot to think about junior cricket in the much-fancied states. Most importantly the BCCI would do well to ensure that junior cricket is encouraged in every possible way. For starters, it won't be a bad idea to give members of the winning Indian youth team Rupees one lakh each. They deserve it and there was no prize money involved in the World Cup.

WOORKHERI RAMAN

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