Selection News of the Indian Cricket Team is a topic which is more followed and talked about in every corner of the Nation. Be it an age-old man who has watched life-time of cricket or be him a boy in shorts with a plastic ball in his hands and a pair of slippers in his foot, every cricket follower shall have their own squad prepared in their mind and out for a debate.
The talent pool in the country of 1.37 billion people has never been scarce especially after the addition of the Indian Premier League since 2008. Performances in the IPL have slowly become crucial for the players to grab the attention of the selectors along with doing well in the Ranji, Vijay Hazare Trophy, and the Syed Mustaq Ali Tournament.
The conundrum of selection is not a new thing in Indian Cricket. It has been there since the beginning and will be here to stay for ages. Irrespective of however good a player is performing in the domestic circuit, there are other questions/criteria which need to be looked at before deciding which player gets the nod.
The foremost question is ‘What does the team require?’
This question is relating to the position to be filled in the squad or in the playing XI. There is hardly any cricketer who has played at a single position or donning only a single role and been selected perpetually. The understanding is clear that if a player is to have a greater chance of him being selected in the longer run then he has to be flexible for various roles as per the requirement of the team.
Let us study this with an example.
Dinesh Karthik, a 19 year old from Tamil Nadu made his debut in late 2004 as a wicketkeeper batsman and is yet doing rounds in the international arena.
Courtesy: Sportskeeda
He started as a middle order wicketkeeper batsman; played as a keeper replacement to Parthiv Patel; opened the innings; played when MS Dhoni was rested; played as specialist batsman along with Dhoni and also donned the finishing responsibilities for the team. DK has batted at every position from 1 to 7.
How has this been possible with the stats that read a par average of 30.21, strike-rate of 73.24, and no century to his name in 79 innings played in ODIs that has spanned a career which is longer than 16 years?
This is because Karthik, over the years has been the man who answered what is the team looking for. When India needed an experienced player at the middle order in English conditions for the 2013 Champions Trophy, he was there giving performances at the domestic level in that position. For 2019 WC in England again he was there preparing as a finisher to cover for Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni. He was even called up for a Test spot in South Africa in 2018.
If we look at Karthik in IPL, he has played for 6 different teams. It is usually considered as a player not doing well if he has played for these many teams. But the thing to notice here is that whenever he was dropped out of one team, there were other teams who were more than desperate to pick him because he fitted perfectly for their needs.
He changed and modeled his skills according to what was the need of the hour during every juncture of his career especially when it mattered for the team selection.
Secondly, ‘Which position to fill?’
The balance of the team is of utmost importance for every single series. The three aspects of cricket (viz. Batting, Bowling, and Fielding) go hand in hand today not only at the domestic level but also for big international tournaments. The fact that Dinesh Mongia was picked in place of V.V.S Laxman for the 2003 WC in South Africa owing to his sharper fielding skills tells us why it isn’t an uncomplicated job when it comes to understanding selection.
Even Rohit Sharma almost booked his spot for the 2011 WC; only for the captain and the coach to demand an additional spinner in place of a specialist batsman. Similar was the furious case of Ambati Rayudu for the 2019 WC as he was dropped for a 3 dimensional player in Vijay Shankar.
Apart from what a team requires and which position is to be filled there lies another question of -
‘Whether the player is mature enough for the responsibility as to represent the Nation?’
Virat Kohli is a Champion Batsman today and even though he performed brilliantly since the under 19s, his selection wasn’t a straightforward one. India had a player of great temperament in S Badrinath of Tamil Nadu who was also in great form and had all the backing of then captain MS Dhoni and BCCI Head N Shrinivasan during late 2008. But it was only after some astute convincing by the Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar, Kohli at the age of 19 and without many domestic games in his bag, got the opportunity to represent the Nation.
Courtesy: India TV
Former Chief Selector on picking Virat Kohli, “When there was an emerging players' tournament in Australia, In the first match against New Zealand, they had scored 240-250 and Virat was asked to open the innings and he scored 123*. What I appreciated was that even after his hundred, he went on to win the game for his team and he remained not out.
That really impressed me and there I thought that here is a boy that we must push into the Indian team because he was mentally mature and of course we picked him."
Another question that arises recently and most frequently is ‘Who to Replace?’
There have been instances where it is beyond one understanding of why a player has not been selected even after giving multiple brilliant performances. Even when the player shows all the signs of covering the needs of the team’s present requirement and also deemed mature enough to represent the Nation, he still has to wait long.
Consider the case of Suryakumar Yadav during the last few years.
Courtesy: Times of India
No doubt he fulfilled every need as a player which led the cricketing fraternity to expect his name in the squad over a period of time, but the difficulty wasn’t in picking him; the question was ‘In Who’s Place?’
This is where the Problem of Plenty comes. With so many individual ready-to-go talents in the country, ‘Who is to be Dropped/Removed?’ from the squad becomes a difficult task than ‘Who is to be added to the Squad?’
Kapil Dev once quoted “Selectors can't please everyone, but I am OK if they are working for the benefit of Indian cricket.”
As for a player is concerned, in this era Selections is not just about ‘Knocking the Door’; the motto has changed to “Break the Door.”
