7

Jan

Circus In And Around Cricket

image

The circus that the Indian cricket team selection has become not only continues but has spread to matters outside the pitch, too.

First, about selections where inexplicable choices continue.

As the selectors announced the team for the first cricket series in the new year, the one-day series with New Zealand, we observe that the lack of consistency and logic continues to afflict selections.

India has riches of talent, especially in the white-ball format, which makes the selectors’ job quite complex. But it should not be hard to be consistent and performance-oriented.

How should we be thinking logically about selecting a team, say for one dayers?

Considering Indian or subcontinental conditions, it is reasonable to assume that we go in with 2 pacers and 3 spinners in the final eleven.

Who logically are our best 2 pacers – Bumrah and Shami, based on their records in one-dayers? If Bumrah is to be rested, as is the case, it should be Siraj.

Let us now consider spinners in one-dayers – Jadeja is the frontline spinner and automatic choice – to be backed by Kuldeep Yadav and Sundar.

Should we have another one who can bowl? An allrounder”

Pandya would be an automatic choice for this slot.

The article criticizes the Indian cricket team’s selection process, calling it inconsistent, illogical, and increasingly circus-like. Despite India’s abundance of white-ball talent, selectors fail to follow clear, performance-based logic, especially for home conditions that favor two pacers and three spinners. The author outlines a balanced and sensible playing XI, highlighting puzzling omissions and over-selections, such as the repeated ignoring of Mohammed Shami despite fitness and form, and the apparent push to project Harshit Rana as an all-format pacer.
Front Foot Forward
By Anil Jauhri
Strong performers like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, and Sanju Samson struggle to find space, raising questions about priorities. Beyond cricket, the article also highlights off-field controversies involving diplomacy, IPL decisions, and political overreach, arguing that India’s dominant cricketing position is being undermined by unnecessary external influences, eroding both accountability and the spirit of the game.

In fact, he gives you an option that you could go in with one frontline pacer and include another spin allrounder (say Axar) in the final eleven.

The wicket keeper slot In one dayers is fixed, for the time being, with Rahul, as a backup, Pant is the choice.

Coming to batters, Rohit and Shubman are openers, Virat at no 3, and Shreyas Iyer at no. 4 fill up the other available slots.

Therefore, in Indian conditions, the best eleven would be – Rohit, Shubman, Virat, Iyer, Rahul, Pandya, Jadeja, Sundar, Bumrah, Shami, and Yadav.

If you decide to rest Bumrah, Siraj should come in.

If you decide to rest Pandya, Nitish Reddy comes in.

When you are picking 15, you need a backup opener – Jaiswal; a backup keeper, Pant; a backup pacer, Arshdeep and a backup spin allrounder, Axar.

That would make the 15. If you add a 16th member, it would be Ruturaj based on his recent performances.

This shows that we are unable to find a place for Ruturaj, Tilak Verma, or even Sarfaraz as batters – despite their strong performances. Or for any other pacer like Krishna, Harshit or Akashdeep. Or a keeper like Samson, Ishan Kishan or Jurel.

These are the kind of hard choices that we should expect selectors to make.

But someone seems to have decided to make Harshit Rana an all-format pacer at the expense of more deserving candidates.

And do we need 4 pacers plus one pacer all-rounder in 15 in Indian conditions, or would we be better served with a batter (Ruturaj) in place of a pacer? This looks more reasonable.

And given the outstanding service Shami has rendered, does he not even deserve an explanation why he is being repeatedly ignored despite being fit, playing in domestic cricket and performing.

However, as has been said before, given the riches India has, it would likely win the series, and selectors will get away without being held to account.

A more amusing circus was taking place away from the pitch.

First our External Affairs Minister, Jaishankar, flew to Dhaka to attend the funeral of former Bangladesh PM, Khaleda Zia, and shook hands with a Pakistani dignitary which led to animated discussions on our hyper TV channels with some worthies trying to explain that its a courtesy and shows highest standards of diplomatic behaviour forgetting that our cricket teams were directed not to shake hands with Pak cricketers! What was that – the lowest standards of cricketing behaviour?

Then, even more bizarre, a Bangladesh cricketer being in IPL was raised as an issue targeting Shah Rukh Khan rather than BCCI, which put him into the auction pool in the first place, and even more bizarre, BCCI buckled and advised the franchisee to let him go, leading to potential worsening of ties, which the Minister above was ostensibly trying to repair!!!

You can stand on the sidelines and enjoy this circus, or if you are a proud Indian, feel despair at how India, rather than show statesmanship, especially with its dominant position in cricket, is allowing extraneous factors to overtake the spirit of the game. (A cricket buff from his student days, Anil Jauhri is   ex-CEO, National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies and an international authority on standardisation.)

**************

  • Share:

About Us

We must explain to you how all seds this mistakens idea off denouncing pleasures and praising pain was born and I will give you a completed accounts..

Contact Us

Contact Info

  • 70, Gyan Khand- 4, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Uttar Pradesh.
  • +91-9810533682
  • info@mediamap.co.in
  • Week Days: 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday: Closed