Selectors need greater vision

LAXMI RATAN SHUKLA? Is he playing for Bengal? One of the Delhi players asked innocently. He was not aware if the all-rounder, as Shukla was described, was still in business. A most promising lad last season, he was now lost in the wilderness which has engulfed quite a few cricketers in Indian cricket in the past few years.

The case of Shukla is very pertinent because it throws light on the so-called system of grooming youngsters. Who would you blame if Shukla, who reportedly impressed Wasim Akram when the Pakistanis last visited India for a Test series, became disillusioned with the game at such a young age. The same could be said of Gagan Khoda or Virender Sehwag or Harvinder Singh or Harbhajan Singh or ........... The list can be pretty long.

The Board, with no policy worth its name for spotting and grooming young talent, and the National selectors, junior and senior, have played havoc with the careers of quite a few players in the name of improving the image of the team. The Indian cap has been distributed quite cheaply, as Sunil Gavaskar keeps stating with lot of pain and disgust.

What sort of relationship do the selectors enjoy with the team management and what role does the Board play to ensure a pleasant atmosphere would be worth discovering. If the captain is to decide on the composition of the team according to his whims and fancies, why have the selection committee at all.

Of late, the selectors have been embarrassed by Sourav Ganguly no end. They pick Murali Kartik and the captain deals with the young bowler harshly. He demands Harbhajan, who does not find favour with the selectors. Ganguly backs Nikhil Chopra, the selectors oblige but this time the Board steps in and leaves both the parties red faced.

For years, Indian cricket has suffered from this sickening trend of promoting oneself, and one's candidates, at the cost of the team. It is no secret that Sameer Dighe wore the India cap because Sachin Tendulkar desired so. Well, the captain had more faith in his Mumbai mate and he stood justified to quite an extent. When Ganguly took over, he insisted on getting his Bengal mate, Saba Karim, in. But at what cost? And both the captains conveniently ignored M. S. K. Prasad, who had no godfather. If Vijay Dahiya earned a chance, he should thank his stars and Karim's awful performance in the Test against Bangladesh.

Would the National selectors admit they have been fair to the three Delhi seamers-Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and Robin Singh (Jr). They all got the sack after just one match. Nehra bowled exceedingly well against Sri Lanka at Colombo and never came close to selection again. Robin made his appearance at Hamilton against New Zealand and was given the boot. Bhandari was asked to perform on a docile track by a captain who had a score to settle with the selectors. I would not say Bhandari was India's answer to Brett Lee but if he was to be judged on the basis of just one match, something ought to be wrong with the system. If he was so poor, it equally reflects on the ability of the selectors to assess talent, how did he gain a place in the team amidst such stiff competition, what with a `stalwart' like Venkatesh Prasad sitting out. It is another matter that the Karnataka seamer was lucky not to have bowled to the Pakistanis on the batting beauty at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.

In comparison, someone like Ajit Agarkar, astoundingly over- rated, has had the right kind of backing. Good seamer in the opinion of Tendulkar and Ganguly, with the prowess to reverse swing, this Mumbai cricketer has had the best backing in the name of promoting talent. Described as an all-rounder, he has 118 runs from eight Tests. In 66 one- day matches, he has scored 361 runs apart from claiming 99 wickets (upto the Cuttack match against Zimbabwe). He has also gone for more than 50 runs on 24 occasions. Why have the selectors not treated T. Kumaran or Nehra or Shukla similarly. If Agarkar deserves to get a fair deal, so do Kumaran and Nehra.

Robin Singh, the senior cricketer from Tamil Nadu, and the only genuine all-rounder in the country, is another victim of the selectors' designs. Regardless of whether he is picked again or not, he shall remain one of the most shabbily treated individual in Indian cricket. His youthful years were wasted because one selector had a bias against Tamil Nadu players and when Robin worked hard to remain the fittest, they all cited his age, as if the young replacements were all matchwinners.

One has never understood what criteria the selectors apply when picking a National side. Is it right to accede to all demands made by the captain, and yet not grill him on his questionable handling of some players. The captain may have some apprehensions regarding some players but then he should also remember that it is the selectors, and not he, who watch domestic cricket and scout talent. There was a time when the seniors, occupied with playing across the globe, watched a talented youngster only when he joined them on the international circuit.

The selection of Noel David for the West Indies tour in 1997, the omission of V. V. S. Laxman at various stages in the last three years, the treatment meted to Kanwaljit Singh, the shoddy handling of Pravin Amre, the step motherly attitude towards players of weaker states, are all examples which show the selectors in poor light. The trend, unfortunately, was set by a chairman, a self-proclaimed passionate lover of the game, a batsmen-friendly seamer who played average first-class cricket to sit in judgement of Test players.

In these difficult times, the selectors will have to rise above petty regionalism, not to speak of nepotism. In the days when the person concerned with globalisation was actively involved in the Board, he still is in any case, it was said that Bengal was the short-cut to a berth in the Indian team. Prashant Vaidya and Chetan Sharma were two glowing examples. The joke now doing the rounds is enrol at the National Cricket Academy to find a way into the Indian team. Jokes apart, the selectors will have to show greater vision and not necessarily through the eyes of the team management or some unprofessional Board officials.

VIJAY LOKAPALLY

New Delhi

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