Published: Aug 08, 2011, 10:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 21, 2014, 08:21 PM (IST)
RP Singh…..recalled after a long time © Getty Images
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
The last time India were in England, RP Singh had formed a potent partnership with Zaheer Khan in India’s 1-0 Test series win. The SOS he got from the national selectors a couple of days back to reinforce an injured Zaheer Khan in England has largely to do with his penetrative consistency on that tour.
RP had a fantastic Test series in England in the year 2007. In the first Test at Lord’s he picked up a five wicket haul in England’s second innings and showed that he had pace and could move the ball to great effect. In the second Test at Trent Bridge, he provided Zaheer with valuable support as India looked to bowl out England in the second innings. The two wickets he took in that innings were off absolute beauties, as Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior had no clue where the ball was heading. Coming around the wicket, he got the ball to move into the right-handers. Pietersen offered no shot and was trapped in front and Prior was bowled through the gate between the bat and the pad.
His stats for the 2007 England-India Test series are as follows:
|
M |
Wkts |
Avge |
Inngs best |
Match Best |
|
3 |
12 |
28.91 |
5-59 |
7-117 |
The point to be noted is that he dismissed the dangerous Pietersen three times in that series. Two of those dismissals were in India’s victory at Trent Bridge in the second Test.
At the end of India’s tour to England, things looked good for RP as he seemed to have cemented a place in the Indian eleven. He played a crucial role in India’s ICC World T20 triumph that year and continued his good work in Australia when India toured in 2007-08. However, he picked up a hamstring injury in the fourth Test at Adelaide which ruled him out of the CB series. In a sense, it marked the beginning of a difficult phase for him.
The injury in Australia ended RP’s promising run as he struggled to pick up wickets in the home Test series against South Africa in March-April 2008. The Ahmedabad Test against South Africa was his last Test after he went wicket-less. After this series he made a few appearances in the One-Day Internationals but was dropped by the end of 2008. A purple cap-winning performance in the Indian Premier League 2009 helped him mark a comeback to the Indian team for the ICC World T20 2009. He played two matches in that tournament and a few ODIs after that but was dropped after the ICC Champions Trophy 2009. The England tour would mark his return to the team after nearly two years and it is certainly not based on any of his recent performances.
RP’s selection for the tour to England is an instinctive one. It is good to see that the selectors have trusted their instincts and picked a player who had done well on a previous tour to the same country. This selection brings back memories of Virender Sehwag’s call-up for the tour to Australia in 2007-08. Sehwag had been out of India’s Test set-up for quite some time but was surprisingly selected for the tour Down Under. This came after he was left out of the 24 probables named for the Test series. The selectors named Sehwag in the squad keeping in mind his previous performances in Australia. He justified the call by playing a crucial knock in the last Test at Adelaide.
With regards to selectors’ instincts, RP’s selection is very similar to Sehwag’s inclusion in 2007-08, but the background in very different. Prior to Sehwag’s call-up for the Australia tour, he was a part of India’s One-Day squad for the home series against Pakistan and the triumphant Indian campaign at the ICC World T20 2007. In comparison, RP makes an international comeback after nearly two years in wilderness. His last game for India was against Pakistan at the ICC Champions Trophy 2009. Thus, it is a gamble that the Indian selectors have taken by naming him as Zaheer’s replacement.
RP’s performance in the Indian domestic season 2010-11 was decent – nothing inspiring. His last competitive game was in May when he turned up for Kochi Tuskers Kerala against Chennai Super Kings. The selectors were looking for a left-armer to replace Zaheer and even though the numbers aren’t in RP’s favor, he is the best choice for England. Sreenath Aravind, the Karnataka pace bowler may have been an option but he relies more on variations in pace rather than swing. Jaydev Unadkat may have been discussed as well, but he is too young and requires time to be fully ready for the top level.
RP has been selected over the likes of Aravind and Unadkat mainly because of his ability to move the ball in the air and his performance in England on the previous tour. He can also bowl fast and if he gets it to swing at a good pace, he would be a force to reckon with in English conditions. It is an inspired and instinctive selection by the Indian selectors and they deserve the credit for taking this brave call.
But a few questions remain unanswered: Is he the same bowler he was in 2007? Is he match fit as his last competitive game was in May? And, lastly, inspiration worked with Sehwag, but will it work with Rudra Pratap Singh?
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)
