Amarnath lays down Selection marker

[Cricket Tragic]

It's nearly 23 years since Mohinder Amarnath referred to the country's cricket selectors as a "bunch of jokers". Coming from a player who had played such a big part in Indian cricket's watershed moment the World Cup win of 1983 it struck a chord with thousands of people. When a team wins, the selectors seldom get any hosannas. When it loses, they're the most convenient whipping boys. At the time, few bothered to look beyond the Amarnath quote. That it made for a juicy headline was enough. The facts of the matter were simple. The selectors had done the right thing. When the axe fell in 1988, before a home series against New Zealand, Amarnath was 38. He hadn't scored a half-century in 12 innings and had endured a miserable series against West Indies earlier in the year. The man who would eventually be his long-term replacement at No.3, Sanjay Manjrekar, was 15 years younger. While the panel led by Raj Singh Dungarpur may have made some mistakes, dropping Amarnath and looking to the future was not one of them. In India, selection committees are no longer obliged to explain their decisions. There was a time when the board secretary or someone else would do so. These days, all you get is an email with the squad listed. Now, Amarnath himself is a selector. On paper, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, his teammate from the 1983 triumph, heads the panel. In reality, Amarnath, who made his debut more than a decade before the swashbuckling Srikkanth, appears destined to call the shots. There have already been a couple of eye-catching decisions. Harbhajan Singh is not part of the one-day squad for the series against England, despite being fit enough to lead the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20. There's also no place for Ashish Nehra, India's go-to bowler in the death overs before a broken hand ruled him out of the World Cup final in April. In India, selection committees are no longer obliged to explain their decisions. There was a time when the board secretary or someone else would do so. These days, all you get is an email with the squad listed. England and Australia follow the same procedure, but at least bother to explain the rationale behind the selections. We know, therefore, that Jimmy Anderson was rested for the India trip to "manage his workload". Was Harbhajan dropped or rested, or is his workload being managed? Your guess is as good as mine. What we do know, from various sources, is that Amarnath was behind the tough decisions taken. M.S. Dhoni wanted Harbhajan in his squad. That request was turned down. Amarnath in turn pushed for Rahul Sharma, the legspinner who caught the eye with the Pune Warriors in the last IPL. He got his way. Dhoni wanted Nehra and R.P. Singh to lend some experience to a rather callow attack. Again, the light stayed red. Amarnath was apparently adamant that new faces should be blooded in home conditions. Sreenath Aravind, the left-arm seamer from Karnataka, also gets a chance, while Varun Aaron will hope that this selection doesn't mean five more games of getting splinters from sitting on the bench. Harbhajan's exclusion has gone done well with those looking for scapegoats after the fiasco that was the England tour. He made no impact in the two Tests that he played, but neither did Graeme Swann. Otherwise, his Test form had been decent, with 49 wickets in the past 12 months, including eye-catching spells at Kingsmead and Newlands during the drawn series in South Africa at the turn of the year. In one-day games though, it's been a struggle, with 17 wickets in 17 games. He's kept the runs down, but has gone wicketless in six of those matches. R. Ashwin, who has played 14 games in that time, has taken 23 wickets at a significantly better average (26.43 to 41.29). He deserves this chance to play a full series against quality opposition in conditions that suit him best. Scapegoating is inevitable in a country so emotionally invested in the sport, but what we could really do without is lazy punditry. At the Sardesai Memorial lecture, Kapil Dev apparently shared this gem with those listening: "IPL is also a part of the country's cricket. Why think of it any other way? IPL/ICL is the way through which we get our cricketers. Without IPL, we wouldn't have got players like the Pathans [Yusuf and Irfan]." Irfan made his Test debut way back in December 2003. Yusuf played for India in the World Twenty20 final in 2007. The ICL started later that year, while the IPL's first game was played in April 2008. How hard is it to get facts right? http://www.sunday-guardian.com/sports/amarnath-lays-down-selection-marker

[Blue Panther]

Tough guy takes tough deccisions. :two_thumbs_up:

[rkt.india]

At the Sardesai Memorial lecture, Kapil Dev apparently shared this gem with those listening: "IPL is also a part of the country's cricket. Why think of it any other way? IPL/ICL is the way through which we get our cricketers. Without IPL, we wouldn't have got players like the Pathans [Yusuf and Irfan]."

:cantstop:

Irfan made his Test debut way back in December 2003. Yusuf played for India in the World Twenty20 final in 2007. The ICL started later that year, while the IPL's first game was played in April 2008. How hard is it to get facts right?

[SachDan]

I think by ICL, Kapil meant Indian Cricket League..anyways Kapil had to mention IPL and ICL in the same breath since he was Subash Chandra's right hand for "tailunt hunting" Indian Crap League.

[gakgupta]

way to go...Mr. Amarnath...worst case we might loose a series...but in the bargain, if we can discover one or 2 players, nothing can be better than that.

[saneindian]

He will be the first guy whose head will be on the line if we lose the ODI series against England!! Hope the selectors have a vision and are not taking these tough decisions as a knee jerk reaction. There have been reports in the media about MSD-FLetcher not agreeing with many things said by Amarnath in the meeting. I hope its not true. Will only end up harming the team in the long term. Also a guy like Bhajji,if he is being dropped,how wonderful it will be if one of the selectors, ideally Jimmy paaji, picked up the phone and talked to him saying where he is going wrong? 31 is not the age to discard a player once and for all. Similarly won;t be a bad idea for the selectors to talk to the guys like Sree, RPS, Irfan, Chawla, etc and tell them what they need to do if they have to comeback to the team?

[gs]

He will be the first guy whose head will be on the line if we lose the ODI series against England!! Hope the selectors have a vision and are not taking these tough decisions as a knee jerk reaction. There have been reports in the media about MSD-FLetcher not agreeing with many things said by Amarnath in the meeting. I hope its not true. Will only end up harming the team in the long term. Also a guy like Bhajji,if he is being dropped,how wonderful it will be if one of the selectors, ideally Jimmy paaji, picked up the phone and talked to him saying where he is going wrong? 31 is not the age to discard a player once and for all. Similarly won;t be a bad idea for the selectors to talk to the guys like Sree, RPS, Irfan, Chawla, etc and tell them what they need to do if they have to comeback to the team?

Yes, communication is mucho important lest they call him a joker!

[rkt.india]

He will be the first guy whose head will be on the line if we lose the ODI series against England!! Hope the selectors have a vision and are not taking these tough decisions as a knee jerk reaction. There have been reports in the media about MSD-FLetcher not agreeing with many things said by Amarnath in the meeting. I hope its not true. Will only end up harming the team in the long term. Also a guy like Bhajji,if he is being dropped,how wonderful it will be if one of the selectors, ideally Jimmy paaji, picked up the phone and talked to him saying where he is going wrong? 31 is not the age to discard a player once and for all. Similarly won;t be a bad idea for the selectors to talk to the guys like Sree, RPS, Irfan, Chawla, etc and tell them what they need to do if they have to comeback to the team?

forget about Sree...but RP and Irfan can still do a lot good for the Team. They are still young, especially RP if he can work on his fitness he will be useful in tests after Zak as a left armer and Irfan's alround abilities in ODIs can be useful in 2015 WC in Australia.

[bulbul]

Jimmy is not Cheap selector...its cheekooo..how can he mark selection policy

[gakgupta]

He will be the first guy whose head will be on the line if we lose the ODI series against England!! Hope the selectors have a vision and are not taking these tough decisions as a knee jerk reaction. There have been reports in the media about MSD-FLetcher not agreeing with many things said by Amarnath in the meeting. I hope its not true. Will only end up harming the team in the long term. Also a guy like Bhajji,if he is being dropped,how wonderful it will be if one of the selectors, ideally Jimmy paaji, picked up the phone and talked to him saying where he is going wrong? 31 is not the age to discard a player once and for all. Similarly won;t be a bad idea for the selectors to talk to the guys like Sree, RPS, Irfan, Chawla, etc and tell them what they need to do if they have to comeback to the team?

I wish selectors are as smart as you are. Communication is so very important. And i hope jimmy has a plan in mind for teh future. otherwise, there is no point. Giving opportnities for a pacer in india is just not right.