NEW DELHI: You can't select an Indian team for a 50-over tournament on the basis of T20 performance in a city-based league. Unfortunately, the Indian selectors seem to have forgotten this simple dictum while picking the 15-member team for the last Champions Trophy to be played in England next month.
In fact, there doesn't appear to be any consistent logic to how different members of the squad have been chosen. Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan have clearly benefited from their performances in the ongoing T20 tournament despite having little to show in the international 50-over game.
The same logic could have played a part in picking Dinesh Karthik, Vinay Kumar and Ishant Sharma, though to be fair to them Ishant and Vinay might be good choices given the seamer-friendly conditions in England and Karthik has had a wonderful season in limited overs domestic cricket.
Senior cricketers and proven match winners like Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir have been dropped ostensibly because of their poor form of late, but then how does one explain the entry of Murali Vijay, who has some good knocks in Test cricket but averages just 17 in ODIs and is not even performing for the Chennai Super Kings in the limited overs game?
So is this a clear case of different yardstick for different players? Even the selection of some of the pace bowlers has raised a lot of questions.
"This team defies logic," said former Indian skipper and chairman of the selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar. "The team should have youth and experience. The 50-over format is a full-innings match. A player like Gambhir is a must while a Cheteshwar Pujara is an ideal for the No.3 slot. He could hold one end up. For English conditions, even Yuvraj should have been there in the team." The inexperience is also evident in the fast bowling department. "Ishant and Bhuvneshwar are in good form and they are going to do well there. But Vinay Kumar, Irfan and Umesh will have to prove themselves. Their presence is a weak link in the team," said Vengsarkar.
Vengsarkar also said that Praveen Kumar should have been in the team because of his experience. "Our ODI team has been found wanting in the last 20 overs. We need to overcome this shortcoming," he said.
Another former chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, however felt that picking youngsters was good as the selectors are looking ahead. "All the youngsters have been around for a while and some of them are in good form in recent days. I somehow don't mind a team like this," More said. Whatever the merits of the selection, what it clear is that for the first time Dhoni will be leading a squad on a tour as its most experienced member. Amit Mishra debuted in 2003, a year before Dhoni, but has played only 15 ODIs since.
This unexpected situation has arisen because of the exit of the Tendulkar-Dravid-Ganguly-Laxman-Kumble generation, followed very quickly by the exit of the next one - Sehwag-Gambhir-Yuvraj-Zaheer-Harbhajan - from this squad.
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