Before we start branding yours truly a national traitor and villain-in-general, let me try and qualify that title. I am basing my claim not on emotions, statistical analysis, expert opinion or even astrological alignment of the stars. All these, on the contrary are actually saying the Indians are favorites. The conditions are favorable, being home grounds and all, the team is confident, and they are led by what most will agree is a dynamic, if slightly fortunate captain. They say fortune favours the brave, and no one can deny the undeniable impact that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has brought to this confident looking Indian side. All this is beyond debate.
What is debatable is the Indian selection policy, and current form of the primary Indian players. At the time of writing this, the final 15 has not been selected. There are 30 very eager, very nervous cricketers that are chewing their nails off in anticipation of the big announcement on 17 January. Well, 30 is an inaccurate number. At least 10 of these men walk right into the team, and they know it, and there are millions of supporters behind each of the probables equally if not more emotionally invested in this circus. So a lot more than 30, yet paradoxically not all of the 30.
And therein lies the problem. Or at least part of it. It is my contention that the final 15 will contain names that are just that – names with reputations tagged to them. In many ways, an Australian side with several unfamiliar names is probably a better bet to go a long way in the tournament than this Indian 15. Kris Shrikant has been a very lucky man. He’s had more successes than failures, and the country has willingly forgotten grave debacles like the abject T20 WC failure. However, there have been some brave decisions he’s made. Dropping Yuvraj Singh from the Tests in favour of Suresh Raina has been one of them. I do think however, selecting the WC team will be a tougher deal, and he will be forced to take some decisions against his, and ultimately the logically, better judgement. His will be a constriction of reputation. And thank God Dada isn’t in the reckoning this time, cos that would have been hairy as hell.
This piece will be in 2 parts. One will set out what I think will be the chosen 15 for the World Cup. Not my 15, but what I think the selectors will go with. The choice will be obvious with very little surprise. In fact, barring injury, and a few fringe places like the second wicket-keeper, and the 7th batsman, very few places are up for grabs. The rest are taken, whether deservedly so or not.
The second part will be written post selection, when I will attempt to analyse each selected player, his strengths and weaknesses, and why that entire combination (whichever the selectors end up with ) will fail to win silverware. In fact, with the kind of sick feeling which the night watch on the Titanic had when they saw the white growth in the sea where there should have been none, I don’t think the team will progress very far in the tournament. They might just make the knockouts, but any further…Don’t get me wrong, I’m the staunchest closet fan of this team, and I sincerely hope I’m going to have to eat this blog. It’s just that the odds are against that happening. We may look like we have the advantage going in, but that happened before. In terms of form, quality, composure, and composition, we just - don't - make - the - cut.
So let’s see who the 30 from the provisional are –
Bats-
1. Virendra Sehwag
2. Gautam Gambhir
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Murali Vijay
5. Virat Kohli
6. Rohit Sharma
7. Yuvraj Singh
8. Suresh Raina
9. Saurabh Tiwari
10. Ajinkya Rahane
11. Shikhar Dhawan
Balls-
1. Zaheer Khan
2. Ashish Nehra
3. Ishant Sharma
4. S. Sreesanth
5. Munaf Patel
6. Praveen Kumar
7. Harbhajan Singh
8. Piyush Chawla
9. Pragyan Ojha
10. Amit Mishra
11. R. Ashwin
12. Vinay Kumar
All-rounders(so-called)
1. Yusuf Pathan
2. Ravindra Jadeja
Keepers
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
2. Dinesh Kartik
3. Wridhiman Saha
4. Parthiv Patel
Let’s take a look at these. Just from the composition, you can see the problem the selectors have, and how they have tried to address it. The 6 or 7 batsmen that will go into the final 15 more or less select themselves, so we have the complimentary addition of Vijay, Rahane and Dhawan, just to make up the numbers. But the very fact that there are more bowlers in the mix than batsmen tells you that this is where the lacunae is, and that the selectors, helped no doubt by recent performances and the captain’s trust in them (or lack thereof), are really worried about this aspect. So we see the 30 crammed with the previously tried and tested, some of whom (Chawla, Mishra) one may not have faulted for believing had had their final shots at international cricket already. Ian Chappell had remarked in his much lampooned article that India cannot consider itself a world power until it had a world-class bowling attack. Though that was said in the context of the Test match scenario, he isn’t very far from being right even when taken in the limited overs format. Any impartial, or even fiercely partial follower of the game will admit that India’s attack is far from potent.
Of course, one might argue that on these sub-continent pitches, bowling really does not matter. I beg to disagree. Bowlers like Dale Steyn, Doug Bollinger, and Graeme Swann, just to name a few, will perform under any conditions, and have the skill to conquer any batsman.
So, who will make the final cut?
Well this is who I feel the selectors will go with:
Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Raina, Kohli, Y. Singh, Pathan, Dhoni, P Patel/Saha, Zaheer, Nehra, M Patel, P Kumar, H Singh, Ashwin
I’m a little unsure about how the Patel Saha discussion will go, but this is one I hope Srikant will do correctly and hand his CSK ward Patel the place.
Of course, there is always one monumental blunder that the selectors always make, besides the ones they already have if the above list is accurate, but I can’t really predict or account for abject stupidity.
Now, all of us have their fave 15 list, and I can see that many will shake their heads and say, No way, this guy should make it too…and with good reason no doubt. I too have my perfect 15, but even that combo is unlikely to win us the Cup.
My 15 –
Gambhir, Tendulkar, R Sharma, Raina, Kohli, Pathan, Tiwari, Dhoni, P Patel, Zaheer, Nehra, M Patel, P Kumar, Ashwin, Ojha
A couple of obvious omissions, and by far not the best combo, given the inconsistent form that some of these guys have shown in the past. Only Gambhir, Kohli and Ashwin have some consistency going into the Cup. The rest you just hope have more good days than bad. A point of concern is Gambhir’s tendency to take a break after a run of 2 to 3 matches, and that kinda puts a cramp in the style a little.
So why drop Sehwag, Yuvraj, and Harbhajan, you may ask. Well, Sehwag is just coming back from an indifferent tour and I’ve never fancied his chances in a field set for him in the one-day scenario. In any one day game, the start is crucial, and we just can't rely on old Sehwag to give it to us at least 70% of the time. Yuvraj has played some great innings in the past and is one person in the 30 who could turn a game on his own. But he’s fat, slow, and has just the wrong attitude to piss me off, enough to ignore his occasional patches of good form. Harbhajan, as one article in cricinfo very aptly put it recently, is the most hyped spinner that never came good. We have enough paper tigers, we need ones that bite. I prefer Ojha to Harbhajan cos I think in the battle of restrictive bowling, they are both winners, but I’ve always felt Ojha was the better spinner.
That said, I’m pretty sure these 3 will find their way into the final team, so I will save my detailed criticism for when that list comes out…
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