Published: Sep 13, 2016, 12:08 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 13, 2016, 12:10 PM (IST)
The Indian cricket selectors met in Mumbai to pick the 15-man Test squad for upcoming home series against New Zealand. The series, which will see the two teams competing in three Tests, begins September 22. A lot was expected out of this meeting, which was Sandeep Patil’s last as the chief selector. Fans and media were speculating at least two major changes in the squad — Gautam Gambhir coming in for struggling opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsman Manish Pandey replacing Rohit Sharma.
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But alas, this was not meant to be as the selectors opted to pick the same squad that toured West Indies for four Test matches with only trimming it down from 17 to 15. The two unlucky cricketers who missed out were Karnataka all-rounder Stuart Binny and Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur, who got dropped without playing a single game on the last tour.
Virat saved from the axe
An ABP Live report claimed that it was Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Anil Kumble who saved these two struggling batsmen from the axe. It said that it has learnt both the captain and coach put their weight behind Dhawan and Rohit as they did not want to tinker with the winning combination. “We have stuck to the combination which has done very well abroad. Not many times (do) we see Indian team doing well when we tour,” chief selector Patil was heard saying after the selection meeting presser, indicating it was the win on the last tour that refrained them from making the changes.
However, the same report quoted that out-of-favour opener Gambhir and middle-order batsman Pandey were discussed as possible replacements for Shikhar and Rohit respectively at length in the meeting. While Gambhir has been in a tremendous form since the beginning of the last season, his recent string of scores in the ongoing Duleep Trophy also made him a favourite to be picked ahead of Dhawan. His four half centuries (77, 90, 59 and 94) in last four innings of the ongoing pink ball tournament had made a strong case for his selection, but the selectors eventually thought otherwise.
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Pandey, on the other hand, has been impressive in whatever limited opportunities he has got so far. Fe can forget his hundred in the final ODI Down Under earlier this year, which won India the match and saved from the blues of a whitewash. That knock came under a situation of immense pressure, which underlined his class. He is also doing well in Australia where he is currently leading India A and is the top scorer for his team on the tour so far.
But Kohli and Kumble insisted on retaining Rohit and Shikhar in the team. While for Rohit, the reason given was that he has not got a ‘longer run’ in Test cricket where he could translate his “immense talent” into performance, no specific reason was given to justify Dhawan’s selection in the team. Both recently failed in the Duleep Trophy final as well, which was otherwise a run-fest as Gambhir and Chetweshwar Pujara piled up runs in their team’s near 700 score. These decisions are tough on the likes of Gambhir and Pandey, who put in tremendous hard work and deserve to get picked. But for now, they need to get back to the grind and continue to do what they have been doing so far — score runs in heaps.
For Rohit and Dhawan, this may well be the final chance for the two as a failure here might end things for them. “We want him to come good,” Patil said before adding, “not only Shikhar but all the 15 that we have selected. We have tremendous faith in the 15 we have selected. It’s not that we have only 15 (players), we have a bigger pool.” This subtle hint is good enough to imply that.
