The Indian cricket team used to be known as the great revolving door. Players were picked and dropped at random, at the whims and fancies of the selectors/captain/coach.
In the good old days, it was said that one of the most talented cricketers of his time, Salim Durani, was dropped from the team often because an administrator thought the cricketer deliberately put his foot out to trip him on the team bus!
Leg spinner Amit Mishra told a tale from more recent times of not being wanted by captain MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. All he wanted to know from team leaders was why he was not being picked regularly despite consistent performances.
Team India has changed a lot in today’s cricket as a crowded schedule in all three formats lends ample scope for picking many players from a well-filled bank. Even so, as Ravindra Jadeja is left out of the tour to Sri Lanka raises questions about the omission of India’s best ODI all-rounder. They are experimenting, say officials.
Take the case of spinner and batter Ravi Ashwin, India’s second highest Test wicket taker and scorer of five centuries. He has been omitted from the most crucial games because of a prejudice in captain and/or coach.
It is a modern cricket mystery why Ashwin was not picked for the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup of 2023. Both games were against Australia, a team filled with left-handed batters against whom his off spin may have proved decisive. India lost both games thanks to Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid ignoring claims that were solid on technical grounds.
Ashwin is not given to complaining like Mishra. He merely put out a tweet after the World Cup final that his father may have felt his omission more as he is a heart patient and that he was tweeting only because he wanted closure on the issue of omission from the playing XI.
Captain and coach are the key
More than selectors’ whims that used to decide playing XIs in the old days, it is now captain and coach who make decisive calls of playing XIs in critical matches. But did you know Sunil Gavaskar, fresh out of England as a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, was dropped from the Indian team for the series in India that followed.
Gavaskar was reinstated after BCCI acted on a huge outrage on a decision by the selectors in a meeting attended by World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev. All they said was ‘sorry’ and carried on with Sunil not only back in the team but soon to lead the ODI team in the World Championship of Cricket in 1985.
The most curious omission after performing is that of Karun Nair, a batter who made a triple century in his third Test and then played just three more Tests before being left in the wilderness never to don India colours again. He was put out to pasture with a batting average of 62.33, the highest for any Indian batter with at least 5 Tests to his name.
Among the current lot, the case of Sanju Samson and the revolving door must be the most curious.
He waited five years to play his second T20I, one year since debut to play his second ODI and is always around the squad but never given consistent chances to prove his credentials as a batter-keeper who made his name in the IPL.
Inconsistency in selection still plagues Indian cricket and it affects young players the most. Young batter Abhishek Sharma may have scored a century when given the opportunity in Zimbabwe but will probably have to wait long for a second chance.
Among the seniors, Bhuvneshwar Kumar must have experienced the in-out nature of selection the most. But no one would air their opinion freely about selection because once marked as a complainer, the player will never get a call-up again.
Take the cases of Ajay Sharma who was once picked for an Indian team for an away tour. The board secretary had signed out and gone home when he was summoned to call the selection committee meeting again to leave out Ajay, who may have been involved in the betting scandal, and announce the team afresh. That is how far the Board can go to pick and discard at will.
What these players think about selection foibles we will never know, and their list is very long – Umran Malik, Chetan Sakariya, K. Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Parvez Rasool, Manpreet Gony, Faiz Faza, Parvinder Awana and Pawan Negi. The revolving door never opened for them after letting them in once or twice.
Among the current lot, the case of Sanju Samson and the revolving door must be the most curious. He waited five years to play his second T20I, one year since debut to play his second ODI and is always around the squad but never given consistent chances to prove his credentials as a batter-keeper who made his name in the IPL.
Leg spinner Amit Mishra told a tale from more recent times of not being wanted by captain MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. All he wanted to know from team leaders was why he was not being picked regularly despite consistent performances.
The one thing I keep wondering is every team needs players who can perform well. I took 13 wickets in three matches. What more do you expect from me? I neither have questions nor do I have answers. I can only prove myself when I get the opportunity.” — Mohammed Shami
Take the case of spinner and batter Ravi Ashwin. It is a modern cricket mystery why Ashwin was not picked for the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup of 2023.
