In politics and cricket, winnability is a factor.In this season of elections, an individual’s ability to win is touted as the prime reason for picking him or her. In a team sport, a player has to fit into the scheme of things.Next Wednesday, India are back on the field, starting their tour of Australia with three T20Is. Some top-order batsmen and Test spinners will also be going to New Zealand with India A to play a four-day game before joining the Test squad in Australia in the last week of the month.
Then the full team will get to play one warm-up game before they play their first Test in Adelaide, starting on December 6.Interestingly, India will start their tour at Gabba, but they will not play either a Test or any of the three ODIs there. Traditionally, a Test series kicks off in bright, sunny Brisbane.Before going to South Africa earlier this year, many people thought that this was going to be the year of India, winning all three major tours including England and Australia.
They had a valid reason to back India. A strong batting line-up and a bowling attack that not only has variety, but also a set of pacers who can make batsmen hop and take 20 wickets in overseas conditions.The bowlers did their job. The batsmen, barring skipper Virat Kohli, lacked consistency. Yes, scorecards do not tell the whole story. They only say that India lost 1-2 in South Africa and 1-4 in England. But that’s without mentioning how close they came to winning more than one Test in both series.
Once again, everything seems to be going for India when they go to Australia, who are not at their overall best as a team. So it is safe to wager on India winning, as they seem to have all the boxes ticked in all three formats.
Eight of the T20I players will stay back with nine joining for Tests, and they should be there for the ODIs too. That leaves MS Dhoni as the only one who is playing in just the ODIs.If picking a squad is difficult, it is equally hard for the national selectors to explain their decisions, even though they are all made collectively with the coach and captain.
Some easily-asked questions are why Prithvi Shaw has not been included for the shorter formats after his quick-fire Test hundred on debut? But that’s forgetting that the guy who will have to make way for him is none other than Shikhar Dhawan, whose hundred on Test debut (187 off 174) came against a far-better Australian attack, and was as spectacular as Shaw’s. It’s no slight to Shaw, whose turn is bound to come sooner than later.
The other question is about Karun Nair getting dropped without playing a match in England. No doubt he should have been given preference over Hanuma Vihari at the Oval. But the mistake can’t be compounded by dropping the Andhra captain — who hit a fifty and took three wickets with his decent off-spin in his only Test — and including Nair for Australia.
The next issue to address is as to whether the selectors play Shaw or the experienced Murali Vijay and KL Rahul against Australia in Tests. Again, if Rohit Sharma will be the sixth batsman — getting an opportunity at the expense of a top-order batsman — is difficult to answer right away. In their anxiety to do justice to those performing well in domestic cricket, the selectors got Parthiv Patel back into the Test fold. Though Rishabh Pant will be the first preference for wicketkeeper, leaving Dinesh Karthik to concentrate on the ODIs and T20Is.
There is little to choose among the three as far as wicketkeeping goes, and the present arrangement of carrying the three for different purposes will continue till Wriddhiman Saha gets fit to resume playing in Tests.
(The writer is a veteran commentator and the views expressed here are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)