Disappointing Selections

Indian selectors picked up the teams for the ODI series in Bangladesh as well as the 5 Test series in England. The team that has been picked for Bangladesh has several new faces and that is a good thing. It lacks experience but if the players play to their true potential, they should be able to overcome the challenge of a full-strength Bangladesh side. Uthappa makes a comback, after a splendid run in the IPL. Tiwary is back. Kedar Jadhav, a heavy scorer in the domestic circuit has been given a nod and that is a positive sign. 

There are indeed a few names that probably do not make that much sense and probably there were better alternatives available. However, at the end of the day, it is a series against Bangladesh. Who gives a damn!!!

The England-bound team, on the other hand, is extremely important. Firstly, it is a five match test series,  which is a rare event in case of India. There are three reasons that I can think of - (a) England has started to take Indian team seriously (b) ECB is interested in the monetary benefits. After all, matches with India means higher number of eyes watching the matches and (c) England wants to improve their test ranking. They beat us all ends up the last time. Whatever may be the reasons (or combination of reasons), it is a significant tour.

Selectors have done the right thing by selecting Gambhir for the tour, as the reserve opener. He may play a bigger role than a 'reserve' opener as Dhawan's technique would be tested in the swinging conditions that England presents.

The other thing that the selectors have done is that they have picked a 18 man (!!!) squad. Probably, the potential injuries to the players after the gruelling IPL tournament was the reason behind the thought process. The last time around, the injury list was pretty big.

Selectors have loaded the team with pace options. The usual suspects are there. Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Mohamad Shami have obviously been included. Ishant Sharma has been picked as well and it is a shame that we cannot see beyond him. For how long would the selectors go merely by potential? Performances need to be considered as well. Ishwar Pandey has been selected and he seems like an interesting and exciting prospect. Varun Aaron, for his extra pace, is an interesting selection. 

However, the last pace option is baffling. Why Pankaj Singh? Or probably, a better question is, who is Pankaj Singh? He may have had a good domestic season but is clearly not the kind of bowler who is likely to trouble English batsmen. Better options are available. Considering the swinging conditions, selectors could have gone with Dhawal Kulkarni, though he had a pretty average run in the IPL. However, performances in IPL (good or bad) should not be the yardstick for selection of a test side. Umesh Yadav is also a better choice than Pankaj Singh. Since  Praveen Kumar is now fit (and has served his informal ban on disciplinary grounds), he should have been considered. Afterall, he was by far our best bowler in the last tour to England.

The most 'surprising' selection is of course Stuart Binny. He has not even played a test match in India. In the limited chances that he has got in the ODI side, he has not done anything exceptional. His performance in the last domestic season was indeed good but there were better performances. Manish Pandey did well. If they were looking for an allrounder then Irrfan Pathan would have been a much better option. Another option was Abhishek Nayar. He had a decent run in the domestic season with the bat as well as ball. Moreover, he looks a better option for test cricket that Stuart Binny. Binny's military medium pace is not likely to be a very useful option in England. I guess his father's friendship the chairman of selection committee has played a role here.

Now when the teams have been selected, I hope everyone comes up with a great performance. This time around, we must give a better performance than the last tour to England (4-0 drubbing).