The Indian squad for the Australian tour that starts towards the middle of November has been announced. It is more or less predictable but there are some unanswered questions and some selections that raises quite a few questions and some omissions that has found no mention anywhere. Let us analyse the squad indepth.
The Test squad
The test squad consists of 4 openers. Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal & Shubnam Gill. Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Vihari are the middle order batsmen with Saha & Pant as the wicket keepers. Kuldeep, Ashwin & Jadeja are the spinners and Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Umesh Yadav & Saini are the fast bowlers. This will look like a balanced team with a good mix of youth and experienced players from the outside. However, a deeper analysis of the squad is very much required. There are some players that should not have been there and some players who must be part of the squad. To make matters worse, the BCCI is tight lipped about Rohit Sharma’s availability.
The omission of Rohit Sharma
Let me be clear. I do not rate Rohit Sharma very highly. Afterall, anyone who has played the game at the international level for more than 10 years is bound to come good at some point in time. Hence, Rohit Sharma playing exceptional cricket albeit in the short formats is not something that must be praised more than what it deserves. He actually owe these white ball performances to the team and to the Indian public in general. Afterall, all of us have placed tremendous trust on Rohit for a very long time. Having said that, Rohit is not a natural opener and when it comes to Test Cricket, he wasn’t even in the playing eleven until a couple of years ago.
During this short period, he has performed very well with few centuries including a double. Hence, he deserves a longer run as an opener. His name missing from the final squad is puzzling. Admittedly, he is injured during the on-going IPL but if reports are to be believed, his injury does not seem to be serious. Apparently, he has already started to play in the Mumbai Indians nets sessions. This raises a question as to why was his name missed in the original squad? Is his injury really that serious? BCCI must come clean and will have to reveal the reason behind not naming Rohit in the original squad. He may be picked later but that is besides the point. Ofcourse, this is BCCI, a body that is not known for transparency. The entire selection committee and the board president must be held responsible for their opaqueness.
Gavaskar has rightly said “A bit of transparency and openness about what kind of injury he has will help everybody, because the Indian cricket fans deserve to know,” he said.
The stupid selection of Rahul & Prithvi Shaw
Rahul has had a very good IPL tournament so far. He has among the leading run scorers in the tournament. This is not really a surprise. Everyone who has been following Rahul’s career knew pretty well that he is an extremely good white ball player. His name must be among the top three names for every white ball game. This is absolutely no doubt in that. Especially now that he has started to keep as well, his important has increased manifold.
However, does this mean that he must be selected for Tests as well? Certainly not. Rahul has had his chances in Test cricket. He has played in excess of 35 tests and has failed to impress save for some innings few and far apart. The last time he toured Australia, he was a complete failure. He was even dropped after the first couple of tests. He failed in England as well in the previous tour. It is a shame that the selectors keep going to the same player who has been a proven failure. It is also a shame that runs scored in IPL, a T20 entertainment against not so threatening bowlers, on wickets that are made of the batsmen and for scoring runs at the breakneck speed is taken as the criteria for selection in the Test squad.
Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw is another who should not have been in the team. He is young and is someone with loads of talent. There is no question about that. However, he is someone who has lot of technical shortcomings. It was clearly evident in the last New Zealand series in which he struggled against the bowling of Boult and Southee. After that series, with the advent of the pandemic, he never really had the time to rectify his flaws. In Australia and with the first test being a day-night test where the ball is expected to swing and against much better bowlers, he will be a sitting duck. Even in the IPL, he hasn’t shown any willingness to adapt his game. Is this his way of circumventing his technical shortcoming by trying to hit every ball is something only he can answer.
No backup for Rahane
Rahane has been going through a horrendous run over the last 4-5 years. Such has been his drop in form that his average is now down to 42 from the heights of 51 about 4 years ago. With Pujara, Kohli, Vihari & Rahane, there isn’t any middle order batsman to replace Rahane as and when he starts to fail. Rahane did have a wonderful beginning to his career but that is in the past. It is time to move on from him. Why trust him and select him in the first place?
Umesh Yadav
How many tours will Umesh Yadav go on? He is one bowler who despite playing for more than 10 years, hasn’t improved at all. He maybe suited only for the slow and low pitches but he is a luxury on wickets with bounce and carry. Even Ishant Sharma has learnt to bowl after 10 years but not Umesh Yadav. He was someone who belonged to the rare breed. An Indian fast bowler. He was someone who had lots of potential when he made his debut but till now he has remained the same.
Shane Warne famously said: “Monty Panesar hasn’t played 33 Tests, he has played one Test, 33 times.”
The same holds true for Umesh Yadav.
The curious case of Ishant Sharma & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
Ishant Sharma & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar were injured during the on-going IPL. The selectors have said that they are monitoring the progress of Ishant Sharma. However, there isn’t any mention about Kumar. Why is that? Australia wickets are not the same as the old ones. They have become batting paradise. Teams scoring in excess of 450 has become a regular feature on Australian grounds. Bumrah & Shami, assuming that they will start the series, are fast bowlers who will need sufficient rest to bowl at high speed but they will need a sufficient backup who will bowl the hard overs. Ofcourse there will be one spinner who can be expected to bowl 25-30 overs a day but a third fast bowler is required to do the same and also to keep the runs down.
Kumar will be vital in Australia. Not only for his steady seam and swing but also for his runs down the order. His presence in England would have most certainly titled a couple of tests in India’s favour. Bumrah, Shami, Kumar & Kuldeep would have been the ideal line up. Kumar’s situation was not mentioned anywhere. Does it mean that BCCI have decided not to play Kumar in Tests at all? If that is the case, Indian cricket will be the loser. The BCCI will have to answer for such glaring omission.
I am afraid that this is not the best team that will travel to Australia.
What do you think of the Indian Test team? Please leave your comments.
Other topics on the same subject can be read here, here and here.