Indian cricket's snakes & ladders

When the Indian Cricket Board makes a decision, it doesn’t feel the need to give an explanation. There was a time when after every selection committee meeting, the chairman of the selection committee with the convenor met the press and not only took questions from journalists but tried to justify the selection of players. The system has been discontinued now.

A press release about the India squads to play in the West Indies was released recently. Just the squads — no fitness updates — nothing.

The omission of Team India’s top order batter Cheteshwar Pujara for the forthcoming tour of West Indies caused an uproar in cricketing circles and not only his fans but a few former cricketers too criticised his non-inclusion in the Test team.

Legendary player Sunil Gavaskar said Cheteshwar Pujara has been made scapegoat to hide failures of other batters. He believes Pujara has been unfairly targeted and dropped for the tour of West Indies after India’s batting failure in the WTC Final against Australia.

Another player Sarfaraz Khan, despite a consistently good performance in the last three seasons of the Ranji Trophy, is still waiting for a place in Team India. For a third time in 2023 itself, he has been snubbed by the selectors. While the decision of the selectors was immensely criticised, a BCCI official hinted that in Sarfaraz’s case it was “his fitness and off-field behaviour” that was responsible.
Many still feel had R Ashwin not been dropped for the World Cup Final, maybe the result would have been different.

There have been no updates on Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, K.L. Rahul, Surya Kumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami. It is not known who is dropped and who is rested.  

There are many more such players who spent their best years just waiting for the call.

Players get frustrated

India’s former all-rounder Karsan Ghavri, who like Pujara played for Saurashtra, believes the selection process is poor. “We have good quality players but selectors do not allow them to settle down. Caliber of Pujara or Ashwin can not be ignored. Captain and coach have must back their players but unfortunately it’s not happening.”

“Apart from IPL, Ranji Trophy and other 1st class tournaments like India A team program, are important but unfortunately they are ignored. It’s all a matter of giving them more opportunities. Selectors, captain, and coach have to back good quality players, but if they ignore them and keep them in the wilderness they faze out. They lose interest and get frustrated.”

Ghaveri, however, hailed the inclusion of Jaydev Unandkat. “He is a real fighter. I wish all good players had that kind of quality to fight back.”

The competition is stiff

With international cricket being played across three formats, the bank of players to choose from to play different roles in different formats for three Indian teams has become wider, especially after the IPL opened up avenues with 10 teams figuring in the competition. A bigger set of players to choose from is a reason why even performing players are left out of teams as selection has also become complex in 3-format cricket. When players of the calibre of Ravi Ashwin and Cheteswar Pujara are being left out of matches or tours, it is clear that the old formula of playing the best across all formats does not work anymore.

 But younger players are also finding it difficult to break quickly into the national sides as selectors seem to go by reputation first and like to pick seniors in the Indian Test team at least. Overall, getting into an Indian XI may come somewhat easier to those scoring runs impressively in IPL and cashing in on opportunities as cricket has come to the big stage with IPL, keeping their place has just become that much harder because of the competition.

India’s former off-break bowler M Venkataramana sees a new trend in Indian cricket. “One thing we have understood is that this game is very demanding. Expectations are high from all sources. For one batting spot there are 4 or 5 other batters waiting for a call! At that time the transition batters who are knocking at the doors have to be in good form and have to catch the eyes of the selectors. If you missed out, work your way up again. That’s the trend in Indian cricket.”

Former BCCI secretary, who has seen Pujara playing from his school days, believes that it is not the end of the road for him. “Looking at the experience Pujara has, he should not have been dropped for the Windies tour. I admit he recently failed in the WTC (World Test Championship) but failure is a part of the game.”

Without naming individuals, he also said, “a few senior players also didn’t play upto the mark. Do we drop them?” Obviously he was hinting at captain Rohit Sharma and Kohli.

Pujara is mentally strong

Interestingly, Pujara was at the nets immediately after the sad news of his omission for the tour. “He is mentally very strong. I can’t comment about the selection. But from what I have seen, he is batting at his best. In fact he was working hard in the nets the same day post the WI team announcement. He has started preparing for the Duleep trophy and will continue playing on the county circuit. As a father and coach, there is no reason for me to believe why he can’t come back,” Arvind Pujara, his father and personal coach has said.