Selectors leave one and all 'stumped'

By G. Viswanath

MUMBAI, SEPT. 3. The basket is full now. There are three prospective `India wicket- keepers' -- Vijay Dahiya, Reuben Paul and Ajay Ratra -- for the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi. Needless to say, the national selectors have left one and all `stumped'.

Last October at the Motera Stadium's conference hall, the chairman of the selectors, Chandu Borde, was confused while answering a question `Who he believed was India's No. 1 wicket- keeper and not able to pin point Nayan Mongia's shortcomings'.

The selectors, since, have been doing `Here we go round the mulberry bush' act in search of India's No. 1 wicket- keeper who would fit the bill for both Tests and one-day internationals. They have not been able to settle for one. The forgotten young man is Andhra's Mannava Sri Kanth Prasad, who every one (including the selectors) needs to be reminded was India's No. 1 stumper for the three-Test series against New Zealand, five one- day internationals and for the Test series in Australia.

``He (Prasad) is doing well now and we don't want to shatter his confidence,'' said Borde after picking the Guntur- born Prasad for the Test and Carlton & United Tri-series in Australia. Prasad was the only one picked for the near five-month tour initially. Then Mongia made his famous `trip down under', from Abu Dhabi via Mumbai, Baroda and New Delhi to be in time as a replacement for the injured Prasad.

But as it transpired Prasad made a miraculous recovery from his wobbly knee (as a result of banging it on his suitcase at Kuala Lumpur airport and fluid collection), an upshot of which was Mongia being sent back home by the first flight from Tasmania. The mystery deepened when Samir Dighe was sent in as replacement for Prasad for the Carlton & United Series. Thereafter, Mongia and Saba Karim have kept wicket for India, an accident to the Bengal `keeper forcing the team to manage with Rahul Dravid in Dhaka during the Asia Cup. So, since the home series against New Zealand last September, there have been four wicketkeepers -- Prasad, Mongia, Dighe and Karim and the stop- gap Dravid.

And on Saturday in Chennai, the selectors handpicked three fresh faces in the 23-member probables. How Rajasthan's Jhalani (who was briefly discussed), now with the National Cricket Academy missed the bus will remain a mystery. If they can pick three, they could have jolly well picked four.

The important thing is Mongia has not been considered because of a reasoning that he has done little of note as a batsman in limited over internationals. Prasad, too, is out of consideration on merit or favour. Which means that the selectors' bluff has been called, 11 months after they chose him as the only wicket- keeper for the tour to Australia.

The selectors' flawed policy has been thoroughly exposed. They will be in sixes and sevens a fortnight from now. What they will be looking at the time of selecting 14 or 15 players is a jumbo sized list. It's easy to pick 23, but to reduce it to 14 or 15, will be a hell of a task, leaving many unhappy, disappointed and grumbling, once they eliminate eight or nine probables. This prompts an immediate question as to whether they will eventually go for a specialist wicket-keeper for Nairobi. One cannot rule out the possibility of Ganguly asked to choose from Dravid, Vinod Kambli or Jacob Martin.

It will be the last time this selection committee will pick an Indian team. The committee will have a new look after the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Annual General Meeting in Chennai on September 29 and 30.

The `Borde Committee's' decisions have been unanimous only when it appeared `in print', when actually, on several occasions, it has been to the contrary. How they agreed to select three wicket- keepers for the preparatory camp is really baffling.

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