CHENNAI: Appointed selection committee chairman in March, Sunil Joshi has had little to do until now. If that’s a situation no one wants to be in, the former spinner’s first assignment is going to be unusual as well.
The Indian squad for the Australia Test series will be picked during the IPL, with no player having any kind of long-format experience for nearly nine months. When Test squads are picked, Indian players are usually in touch with the red ball.
The initial part of Ranji Trophy in October-November serves as a platform to assess form for matches in December-January. Closing stages of it around February serve that purpose for series lined up for the remainder of the season.
With IPL slated from September 19 to November 10 and the domestic season unlikely to begin until December, Indian selectors have to pick the squad for Australia on the basis of what they see in the T20 roadshow.
Form, fitness, rhythm and other aspects will have to be judged during IPL, given that the last Test India played was in February in New Zealand. Not ideal, but this is it, given the situation caused by the pandemic.
Thankfully for Joshi & Co, most members of the Test squad pick themselves. The first XI is more or less settled. According to former chief selector Kiran More, the focus should be on selecting back-ups. He doesn’t think IPL will be an accurate indicator to finalise things for a Test series, but feels that the rhythm of a fast bowler, batsmen who are in touch to take the reserve slots can be assessed during the tournament in the UAE.
“We more or less know who the batsmen and bowlers in the XI will be, even though there has been no red-ball cricket for the Test players after New Zealand. What we have to look at are the reserves. Things like additional batsmen, fast bowlers, spinners have to be finalised. IPL is not a great stage to assess these. But at least we will have an idea,” the former keeper told this daily.
More suggests that India pick around 25 players for Australia. He also thinks warm-up games will be necessary to get the players back in red-ball mode.
“Realistically, IPL performance will not help in terms of Test selection. But there isn’t much room for experiments. What you can do during IPL is see how the potential back-ups are doing. How is Navdeep Saini or KL Rahul doing, for example. The same goes for the third spinner and second wicketkeeper.”
Former selector Ashok Malhotra, too, says IPL will not indicate much as far as assessing how a player is shaping up for Test cricket.
“But at least they will get a feel of ball hitting bat and bat hitting ball. They will be in a match situation and work their way out in order to get the job done. That will help since the players have been out of touch for a long time.”