CRICKET / Injured Gambhir misses out; Pankaj lone new face in team
Sehwag to go Down Under
By R Kaushik,DH News Service,Bangalore:
Despair for Gautam Gambhir, delight for Virender Sehwag. And ecstacy for Pankaj Singh. Otherwise, it was normal service as Indias selectors finally cobbled together a 16-man squad for the four-Test series against Australia beginning in Melbourne on December 26.
Despair for Gautam Gambhir, delight for Virender Sehwag. And ecstacy for Pankaj Singh. Otherwise, it was normal service as India’s selectors finally cobbled together a 16-man squad for the four-Test series against Australia beginning in Melbourne on December 26.
Despite his twin failures in the Bangalore Test, the left-handed opener was a near certainty until a sore right shoulder put paid to his aspirations. Gambhir, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah said, has a sore shoulder that necessitates three weeks’ rest. That was the cue for the selectors to resuscitate Sehwag’s stumbling career in what must be acknowledged as a well thought out move, particularly because the explosive right-hander did not figure in the 24 probables named last week.
Shah’s reading out of Sehwag’s name at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday night evoked surprised gasps as well as one whoop of delight. Pankaj triggered no more than a milder version of the same emotion; after all, his name has been doing the rounds, though the tall Rajasthan paceman only made the cut because physio John Gloster submitted a report advising more match practice for Munaf Patel before the latter is ready for selection for international matches. “He will be seen in the Ranji Trophy now,” Shah said, as an aside.
The 22-year-old Pankaj has impressed the men who matter with his ability to procure bounce. He has 73 wickets from 23 first-class games, and alongside the 19-year-old Ishant Sharma provides the right-arm component of the five-man pace bowling attack. Whether India can afford to unleash men with such limited experience on the combined might of the Aussies is debatable, but the selectors’ hands were tied through S Sreesanth’s shoulder problem, and Patel’s repeated flirtations with injuries.
Dinesh Kaarthick, unsurprisingly, kept his place as the second stumper, though it wasn’t necessarily the stylish half-century on the final day of the final Test that was the clincher. Parthiv Patel will have to wait.
As will Akash Chopra, who many saw as the dark horse in the race for the opener’s slot with Gambhir. Chopra had played his part in 2003-04, his dour defence the perfect complement to the then-blazing willow of Sehwag. Few would have genuinely believed that the selectors would be bold enough to bring Sehwag back, particularly because he has been having a wretched domestic season. It’s a move that could yet backfire, but reveals a positive mindset that is so essential if Anil Kumble hopes to beard the Aussie lion in its own den.
Sehwag hasn’t been so much about domestic runs as rising to the occasion on the big stage. Saying that, his loss of form has been as dramatic as it has been sudden. That he isn’t quite the technician, and therefore can’t fall back on strong basics to play himself out of a hole, has prolonged his run of low scores. The man himself believes it is the mindset rather than any technical inadequacy that has been his nemesis of late, but he will be the first to admit that he is exceptionally lucky to be on the flight to Melbourne.
A huge gamble
Dilip Vengsarkar’s panel, as much as Kumble, know that Sehwag’s selection is a huge gamble. If it comes off, it will be a masterstroke. If it doesn’t, it will raise awkward questions, and effectively put Sehwag’s international career on hold for the foreseeable future.
Sehwag’s addition will compound Kumble’s selectorial headache leading up to the first Test. Given the vote of confidence by being picked in the squad, Sehwag will hope for an opportunity to repeat his heroics of the last tour at the top of the tree. Interesting times ahead!
VVS Laxman picked up a painful bruise on his left elbow on Wednesday, but the injury — thankfully — is less series than first appeared. Alongside the Big Three, he and Yuvraj Singh form the core middle-order group which India will bank on for a mountain of runs to bury the Aussies under.
