He's not as bad as you may make him out to be- he's a frontline spinner for Baroda, along with Rajesh Pawar. His contribution to the team's performances doesn't end there- he's also a hard-hitting middle-order batsman. In fact, because of his consistent performances with the bat (3 over 50, average over 30) and useful support to his strike partner (one 5-wicket haul, average of 28), the Baroda side have become a surprise package this season. He's a tall spinner (taller than his brother) and gets a lot of bounce out of the pitch. If his fielding is also as good as his brother's, he may make a good selection in the near future, but not right now- I never pushed for his selection into the national side rightaway- first spend some time in the reserve team.
As for Joginder, he too is not fully seasoned, so he too will need some A-team experience before returning to the side. Don't follow what you have seen of him in Bangladesh- he's not played much with the white ball, he got an old ball (not something he can use so well) in two matches, terribly defensive fields and only three overs in his third, while Sachin and Sehwag bowled a lot more than they were needed to. He got taken apart in the Challengers, but again, it's his problems with an old, white ball, and defensive fields.J P shouln't be in the A-team anymore- that is a breeding zone for future India players. He's already had enough experience there and on present form, he should make the senior side sooner than later.Why does a wicketkeeper have to score runs all the time? None of the wicketkeepers in India are good enough for that role in a team. In fact, if you look at all the current international wicketkeepers, none of them really are good enough for a top six and the gloves, except Gilchrist and Boucher, while other better batsmen among the keepers are quite bad with the gloves- Jones is slow, Sangakkara's made several howlers and McCullum often drops crucial catches and isn't the fastest either. In some teams, the wicketkeeper should score runs, while in some others, the bowlers do. If you look at the South African teams of the 90's they had their bowlers scoring more runs (Callaghan, McMillan, Kallis, Klusener, Pollock) than their keeper, Richardson.
The Indian team does not need another wicketkeeper-batsman. They have suffered enough with Deep Dasgupta, Parthiv Patel and Rahul Dravid. Their bowlers have had to bear the brunt of some shoddy keeping once too often. The team already has Dhoni, and that's enough. As for Karthik, he's no great shakes with the gloves and terrible with the bat- almost as bad as Ajay Ratra! You have Joginder Sharma, a swing bowler who can score runs, you have Irfan Pathan (left-arm swing bowler) and Yusuf Pathan (leggie), who can score runs, so why do you need a wicketkeeper who can bat? It is these three who need the exposure, more than those so-called wicketkeeper-batsmen. Moreover, the team needs a bowling all-rounder more than another bits-and-pieces keeper- which is far worse than having a bits-and-pieces all-rounder.
Look at the Australian side, or even the Kiwis- bowlers like Symonds, Watson, Harvey, Styris and Oram may be branded as bits-and-pieces players (particularly in bowling) but the team doesn't feel the pinch so much- because the fielders help them a lot. If you look at the senior team, these are what they need-
- Eleven good fielders in the starting lineup, and four good ones on the bench
- A bowling all-rounder, and one more in reserve
- A tearaway pace bowler
- Genuine openers who score quickly, but still play a long innings
And of course, new strategies.Gagandeep may even make the senior side on present form, but he's just another seam and swing bowler. The current Indian side is full of seam/swing bowlers, and given teir performances, seam and swing are not enough- there has to be some pace as well. He's a very good fielder in the inner ring (Zaheer, take note), which adds weight to his selection.
