How come this bloke never got a test for India ?

[Richard]

As a batsman, he's very much in the Alec Stewart or Rahul Dravid mould. He's often played long innings for stability and building partnerships. He is also capable of playing more than a few strokes on his day, but he's not an out-and-out big hitter that wicketkeeper-batsmen should be.

Stewart was more the other way around, really.

Why should wicketkeeper-batsmen be big-hitters...

Oh, hang-on... just remembered who I'm talking to.

 

[Richard]

Unfortunately, a lot of times in the selector's minds the U-19 performances count for more than FC cricket. Quite the opposite in most other Test nations.

Hmm... I've more than once heard people overrate u19 cricket and underrate FC stuff over here.

 

[silentstriker]

Hmm... I've more than once heard people overrate u19 cricket and underrate FC stuff over here.

Well in India, after every U-19 WC a new influx of talent comes through and the FC folks are forgotten. At least England/Australia don't promote kids from U-19 directly to Tests without any sort of experience in FC cricket.

 

[Richard]

Oh, no, things certainly aren't that bad but you get all sorts of people saying "well he played well for the u19s, so it doesn't matter that he's been poor in First-Class stuff - you can't trust county cricket because Michael Vaughan's First-Class record wasn't remarkable when he got picked and this single instance means far more than the countless players who performed both domestically and internationally".

I've modified this typical-comment somewhat, I admit.