The BCCI has made many snafus and screw-ups in recent times but one superlative decision they have made in the last year is the appointment of Sandeep Patil (and his four co-selectors). I've written before about how they don't get enough credit for the moves they have made in making what is a transitional period for Indian cricket turn into a surprisingly successful one after the post World Cup horrors. And they continue to impress. Maybe its the fact that four of them are domestic stalwarts who never quite made it on the international stage (though Binny had a fair run) and Patil himself didn't fulfil his potential that makes them ideal men to draw out the young talents who will form India's next generation. Or maybe they've just been lucky with their picks. Either way, they've done some really solid work mixing tough decisions with bold ones and most importantly they haven't mixed up formats and let themselves be swayed by the media or former players.
The Test squad picked to play the West Indies is the most recent example of this aspect. Given the decision to rest Jadeja, the squad picked is the best possible one (with the exception maybe of Ishant Sharma's continued presence). The top five (in batting order) of Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar, and Kohli pick themselves and more. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane's first class averages (nearly 60+ for each of them) justifiably makes them the spare batsmen (and next in line to take Tendulkar's spot). The bowling is pretty balanced too and its good to see Amit Mishra back in the spin mix (alongside Ashwin and Ojha) ahead of Piyush Chawla. Given the paucity of good legspinners across world cricket at the moment, Mishra (and Imran Tahir) offer the only glimmers of hope currently. As for the seamers, there's been a lot of noise about the non-selection of Zaheer Khan but given his past record and how much bowling he needs to do to get match fit, its probably best for him to focus on domestic cricket for now ahead of India's next nine Test matches abroad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav should start as first choice and its good to see Mohammad Shami get into the squad. The continued selection of Ishant can be termed a bit of a surprise but to be fair to him, he didn't do too much wrong in the 4-0 win over Australia as well as the last Test in Nagpur in the 1-2 series loss to England. He's been put on notice for a while now so will know that another failure will put the likes of Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, and Jayadev Unadkat ahead of him in the pecking order. All in all a solid squad and I'm glad they've ignored the opinions of so-called pundits like Ganguly who's showing pretty quickly that he was a much better instinctive captain than he is a considered commentator or thinker.
There will be tougher tests ahead for Patil and his men as India embark on a a long period of away Tests after this series against the Windies. They will need to complete the batting order transition post Tendulkar (the likely top 6 of Dhawan, Vijay, Rahane, Pujara, Kohli, Rohit has a combined away Test experience of 16 matches with three of them having played none). The fast bowling line-up is not settled yet and there is a big question of whether Jadeja (or indeed Dhoni) are good enough to bat at #6 in away conditions to give India a better chance of getting twenty wickets. For now though, they're passing every test with flying colours.
The Test squad picked to play the West Indies is the most recent example of this aspect. Given the decision to rest Jadeja, the squad picked is the best possible one (with the exception maybe of Ishant Sharma's continued presence). The top five (in batting order) of Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Tendulkar, and Kohli pick themselves and more. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane's first class averages (nearly 60+ for each of them) justifiably makes them the spare batsmen (and next in line to take Tendulkar's spot). The bowling is pretty balanced too and its good to see Amit Mishra back in the spin mix (alongside Ashwin and Ojha) ahead of Piyush Chawla. Given the paucity of good legspinners across world cricket at the moment, Mishra (and Imran Tahir) offer the only glimmers of hope currently. As for the seamers, there's been a lot of noise about the non-selection of Zaheer Khan but given his past record and how much bowling he needs to do to get match fit, its probably best for him to focus on domestic cricket for now ahead of India's next nine Test matches abroad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav should start as first choice and its good to see Mohammad Shami get into the squad. The continued selection of Ishant can be termed a bit of a surprise but to be fair to him, he didn't do too much wrong in the 4-0 win over Australia as well as the last Test in Nagpur in the 1-2 series loss to England. He's been put on notice for a while now so will know that another failure will put the likes of Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, and Jayadev Unadkat ahead of him in the pecking order. All in all a solid squad and I'm glad they've ignored the opinions of so-called pundits like Ganguly who's showing pretty quickly that he was a much better instinctive captain than he is a considered commentator or thinker.
There will be tougher tests ahead for Patil and his men as India embark on a a long period of away Tests after this series against the Windies. They will need to complete the batting order transition post Tendulkar (the likely top 6 of Dhawan, Vijay, Rahane, Pujara, Kohli, Rohit has a combined away Test experience of 16 matches with three of them having played none). The fast bowling line-up is not settled yet and there is a big question of whether Jadeja (or indeed Dhoni) are good enough to bat at #6 in away conditions to give India a better chance of getting twenty wickets. For now though, they're passing every test with flying colours.
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