<p>The Chethan Sharma-led senior selection committee hasn’t been shy to experiment with young, and sometimes obscure, talent.</p>.<p>Grounded in experience and subsequent clarity of judgement, the five-member committee has made it a point to scour stat sheets and immerse in lengthy scouting reports to pick squads of substance.</p>.<p>Their acute assessment of the Covid-19 situation compelled them to pick a bigger squad, and when several first-choice players became unavailable the back-ups rose to the challenge. Their decision to reward domestic performers like Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur with places in the Australia-bound jumbo squad, saw India benefit hugely. It must be mentioned, though, that the team for Australia series was picked by the committee headed by Sunil Joshi who was later replaced by new inductee Sharma due to BCCI’s seniority ‘rule’. </p>.<p>When England came home, they countered Ravindra Jadeja’s absence by installing Axar Patel. In both these instances, they were successful, and now they could well have stumbled upon another winning squad. For nearly four-month tour of England, the committee named a 20-member squad with the returning Mohammed Shami and Jadeja, and a standby team of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Arzan Nagwaswalla. Notable exclusions include Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prithvi Shaw and Kuldeep Yadav.</p>.<p>The tour begins with the World Test Championship final in Southampton against New Zealand (June 18-22), followed by five Test matches against England from August 4 to September 14. Granted the squad doesn’t look too different from the one which defeated England 3-1 at home, but the exclusion of Hardik and Bhuvneshwar, in particular, has raised some brows.</p>.<p>“Both Hardik and Bhuvneshwar haven’t played red-ball cricket since 2018,” explained a source in the BCCI. “They have both played white-ball cricket and have been good so it was better to save them for the tours against Sri Lanka, South Africa and the T20 World Cup.” “In any case, Hardik isn’t in a position to bowl. He’s still recovering,” the source added.</p>.<p>Bhuvneshwar, who last toured England in 2014 and picked up 19 wickets in 5 Tests, conventionally is an automatic choice for swinging conditions in the United Kingdom, but the source revealed that the committee didn’t want to take a chance with another injured pacer. Shami returns from a broken arm he suffered in Australia, while Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have all been in and out with recurring injuries. “We can only have so many recovering players with experience in the side. It’s a long tour, so it was best to keep some young legs in the side,” said the source. “This is in no way saying that Bhuvneshwar is not on our radar for Tests. We had to make some sacrifices to ensure a healthy team for the duration.</p>.<p>“We have seen bowlers like Avesh and Arzan evolve in domestic cricket, and we don’t want to hold back players, especially when they are this talented. We throw them in the deep end and they usually swim,” he added. Evidently, the committee is committed to looking beyond reputation. “Injury-status, performance, relevance, ability to acclimatise, opposition… these are some of the factors considered,” noted the source.</p>.<p>Sounds simple enough to make you wonder why it wasn’t so earlier!</p>
<p>The Chethan Sharma-led senior selection committee hasn’t been shy to experiment with young, and sometimes obscure, talent.</p>.<p>Grounded in experience and subsequent clarity of judgement, the five-member committee has made it a point to scour stat sheets and immerse in lengthy scouting reports to pick squads of substance.</p>.<p>Their acute assessment of the Covid-19 situation compelled them to pick a bigger squad, and when several first-choice players became unavailable the back-ups rose to the challenge. Their decision to reward domestic performers like Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur with places in the Australia-bound jumbo squad, saw India benefit hugely. It must be mentioned, though, that the team for Australia series was picked by the committee headed by Sunil Joshi who was later replaced by new inductee Sharma due to BCCI’s seniority ‘rule’. </p>.<p>When England came home, they countered Ravindra Jadeja’s absence by installing Axar Patel. In both these instances, they were successful, and now they could well have stumbled upon another winning squad. For nearly four-month tour of England, the committee named a 20-member squad with the returning Mohammed Shami and Jadeja, and a standby team of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Arzan Nagwaswalla. Notable exclusions include Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prithvi Shaw and Kuldeep Yadav.</p>.<p>The tour begins with the World Test Championship final in Southampton against New Zealand (June 18-22), followed by five Test matches against England from August 4 to September 14. Granted the squad doesn’t look too different from the one which defeated England 3-1 at home, but the exclusion of Hardik and Bhuvneshwar, in particular, has raised some brows.</p>.<p>“Both Hardik and Bhuvneshwar haven’t played red-ball cricket since 2018,” explained a source in the BCCI. “They have both played white-ball cricket and have been good so it was better to save them for the tours against Sri Lanka, South Africa and the T20 World Cup.” “In any case, Hardik isn’t in a position to bowl. He’s still recovering,” the source added.</p>.<p>Bhuvneshwar, who last toured England in 2014 and picked up 19 wickets in 5 Tests, conventionally is an automatic choice for swinging conditions in the United Kingdom, but the source revealed that the committee didn’t want to take a chance with another injured pacer. Shami returns from a broken arm he suffered in Australia, while Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have all been in and out with recurring injuries. “We can only have so many recovering players with experience in the side. It’s a long tour, so it was best to keep some young legs in the side,” said the source. “This is in no way saying that Bhuvneshwar is not on our radar for Tests. We had to make some sacrifices to ensure a healthy team for the duration.</p>.<p>“We have seen bowlers like Avesh and Arzan evolve in domestic cricket, and we don’t want to hold back players, especially when they are this talented. We throw them in the deep end and they usually swim,” he added. Evidently, the committee is committed to looking beyond reputation. “Injury-status, performance, relevance, ability to acclimatise, opposition… these are some of the factors considered,” noted the source.</p>.<p>Sounds simple enough to make you wonder why it wasn’t so earlier!</p>
