This selection is going against solutions for obvious problems in the Indian ODI team. The fielding has been an area of concern, even when they've got good fielders, who at least have the basics covered. What do they do? Pick Munaf Patel, who's a liability on the field. We've seen young batsmen tap the ball to him and take two runs, or get a gifted four by stroking the ball past him. He can't take catches, he can't save runs, he can't do anything! He shouldn't be in the XI unless they're playing in the Kotla off-road frenzy pitch, or some extreme right-wing group digs up the Brabourne or the Hede two days before the match, or they can use the sub-fielder rule to effect.
The lack of an all-rounder, particularly a batsman who can hit easy sixes and send down at least eight decent overs, has pinched the Indian team. No batsman has looked like he can sustain his bowling match after match, and none of those batsmen are settled, and some are not even assured of their place in the XI. They picked Yusuf Pathan purely for that purpose, but the way he was handled was pathetic, as he was not used for as many as ten of the thirty matches he played. He got no more than three overs a game, batted at the thankless Number 7 position and did what was needed of that, but his figures suffered. When they need to consolidate on this position, they've dropped the best man for the job after just four bad matches. Are they working on eradicating this problem? Do they even think this is a problem? The all-rounder replacement, Ravi Jadeja, can't launch the ball long enough consistently, is a grafter, and doesn't offer much with the ball- another Roelof or Gayle without the striking power.
Alternatively, they could go in with a pack of run-scoring bowlers so that their bowling is strong, while the batting isn't affected. That would be ideal, as this wouldn't confuse some already shaky batsmen, by getting them on to bowl. Yet we find Munaf, Tyagi, Nehra, Ishant, all of whom are hopeless with the bat. The absence of Irfan was then inevitable, as he even missed the Irani and Challenger games due to injury. Of the available options, Harbhajan is shaky, Mishra hasn't had a bat, while Praveen Kumar has missed so many innings, his batting has become rusty.
Ishant Sharma seems to play one ODI too many. We've had excessive ODI cricket, which may have hampered his progress as a bowler. His average is over 30. In the last few games he had, he's been spraying the ball wide and bowling well below his optimal pace. There was talk of resting him from ODIs and concentrating on Tests, so that he can recover and bowl with full vigour. Yet again, we see the opposite- he's picked to bowl first-change (which he struggles to do) and wear himself out, trying to (unsuccesfully) hold a line and length at a medium pace to contain the batsmen.
One saving grace is the ability to run hard between the wickets, but to launch the ball is another issue. Of the available options, bar Sehwag, none of them are capable of regularly hitting the big shots. For some, it isn't feasible. For a few among them, it is equivalent to giving catches. They're facing an Aussie team, which can hit sixes and fours with ease. They're facing a team that fields five (or more) proper bowlers. They're facing a team that bats all the way till ten, with strike bowlers being recognised batsmen. They're facing a team that's very sharp and speedy on the field. But the selection put forth does absolutely nothing to match them, and seems way behind on those aspects.
A lot of these selections are based on the workout known as the Challenger Trophy. That is a three-team, four-match triangular, which may be a workout for three levels of Indian cricketers. However, we find that this is a platform for national selection. How much do two or three matches suggest about the quality of the players? There are so many- Dinesh Mongia, Hemang Badani, Piyush Chawla and Sreesanth, all of whom came from the Challengers, only to lose their places in the national team. The current Challenger series was a farce, with diluted second and third XIs facing a beefed-up fourth XI. You can't expect a player to be good enough for seven games if he's only done well in as many as three games here.
