BOMBAY, 5 March 2004 - Except for just one wasted place, the selection of the Indian team for the momentous tour of Pakistan panned out to expectations. The ultimate outcome, after a four-hour long deliberation, was that the bowling of the side will remain a cause for great concern.
Mercifully for India's sake, Zaheer Khan passed the last-minute fitness test. That gain, however, was more than offset by the failure of Ajit Agarkar and Anil Kumble to pass the same and the rather nebulous state of fitness of Ashish Nehra, who will have to play a first-class match before being cleared for the tour.
To make matters worse, the selectors have not pursued a definitive policy on the important aspect of the wicket-keeping slot in the line-up. If Rahul Dravid is to be continued as a reluctant keeper for the sake of maintaining the balance in the team with the inclusion of seven specialist batsmen, then why pick young Parthiv Patel?
The fact that Parthiv's blunders had cost the team dearly in Australia on more than one occasion, makes the team even firmer in its resolve to shove the burden of keeping wickets on Dravid. Unless injury forces him out of the team, this job will stay with the Indian vice-captain. As such, there is no use for Parthiv Patel, who, in all probability, will be a passenger in the team for the One-Dayers. His turn will come only in the Test series. In case of the contingency mentioned above, there is Mohammed Kaif who can adequately keep wickets.
The second wicket-keeper is redundant under the present circumstances. That one place could well have gone to Rohan Gavaskar, who finds himself out of the squad for no fault of his own.
From the limited opportunities that he got in Australia recently, he gave enough indications that he is a highly useful one-day player. With a virtual toss-up between him and Hemang Badani, both players would have been eager to go one better. This kind of healthy competition would have been good for the sake of the team.
The only newcomer, Bombay's Ramesh Powar will fill the bill as an all-rounder. He will be one of the options for the only spinner's slot and will perhaps be preferred as he is also a hard-hitting batsman. His off-spinners might prove more effective than Murali Karthik's left-arm spin.
Considering the quality of attack that India possessed at the fag-end of the Australian tour, one can say that with the return of Zaheer Khan and the inclusion of Powar, the Indian bowling might get a slight boost. But, with the exception of Zaheer, the other bowlers are all comparative newcomers to international cricket and will be put to a severe test on the flat wickets in Pakistan.
India's strength, as has been mentioned by all and sundry, is their tremendous batting. There is class and there is depth. The strokeplayers assure a desirable run-rate. However, the bowling they are going to face will be superior to what the Australians had to offer. But there is enough experience right down the line to cope with the best.
It is almost 15 years since the Indians last played in Pakistan. Yet there is one player who has been there before. The unique distinction is that of Sachin Tendulkar, He was barely 16 when he made his Test debut against the likes of Imran Khan. He will be almost twice that age when he plays the first match of the series on March 13.
That will also be the day that will usher in a new era of friendship and all-round cooperation between the two countries. But there is absolutely no doubt on either side that cricket will be of the highest order and the battle on the field fierce. One has just to go back about a year, to the World Cup match in South Africa to be precise, to get a sneak preview of what to expect.
