MUMBAI: When England’s Mike Brearley, one of the finest Test captains in the annals of the game, was once asked what he considered an ideal composition of a cricket team, he said “one ought not to look at the blend, but at the balance.”
A reluctant ODI player, he might have had different ideas on the selection of a team for the shorter version of the game. But there can be no doubt that, whatever the selection, the important aspect of “balance” cannot be forsaken.
The selection of India’s squad for a short tour of Sri Lanka has been largely welcomed with most comments being focused on the merits of individual players as usual.
But when you take a close enough look, the selectors will be found to have missed the whole while concentrating on the parts. In short, the balance is lop-sided.
No one will deny that young Ravindra Jadeja deserved a break for his sheer consistency on the domestic circuit. But he has been thrown in with another left-arm spinner in Pragyan Ojha.
Left-arm spinners, as such, are rare in ODI sides and we have two of a kind and none of the other.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s inclination to bowl Yuvraj Singh more than Sehwag these days, will only add to the monotony of India’s attack as Yuvraj too is a left-arm spinner.
With so many medium-pacers in the squad, it is more than likely that only one spinner will make the playing eleven. But every time, it will be only a left-arm spinner who will play, as there is no choice.
The other forced aberration that has crept in and needs to be settled as quickly as possible, and without standing on ceremonies, is the choice of men for the opening slots.
We will keep on celebrating Sachin Tendulkar’s presence in the Indian team for Test or ODI, and rightly so. But do we have to disturb what is presently the best opening pair in any form of international cricket?
For heaven’s sake, we ought not to treat Sehwag and Gambhir as two outstanding openers, but as a made-for-each-other pair.
They revel in each other’s company with such a perfect understanding as to steal singles and also alternately control the pedal of acceleration almost instinctively.
This is the only reason that Tendulkar ought to bat elsewhere. He will not be any less effective.
