Pratyush said:
He may be good for ODIs but one would ask why he was dropped after 3 wickets against Zimbabwe in 2004 in the solitary one day he played on his return. Nothing too wrong except maybe the important people didnt find much talent in the man.
What makes the five regular pace options so much better than the rest, nobody can say. There may be one reason- contracts. The five pacers are contracted, but not the others, which is why they don't get picked.
But what great thing have any of them done? Zaheer has three five-wicket hauls in Tests, but has been very inconsistent and often sprays the ball all over- a very lethal bowler on his day, but also bowls a lot of rubbish. The same can be said of Nehra, a bowler with a lot of potential (figures of 6/23 are no mean feat) but with pathetic attitude, particularly towards fielding and fitness (bat two accurate throws in Ahmedabad that got runouts). Agarkar and Balaji are just average at best, and terrible otherwise- one's too small, while the other's way too slow and diagonal. Pathan's not seasoned at all- comparisons with Wasim Akram not withstanding, he's not yet ready for the national side.
On the other hand, Bhandari may not be exceptionally talented, but he's a hard trier and also very intelligent, and works for his wickets. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for it in intelligence. The 'stars' have done neither themselves nor the team any favour, so there's no harm in picking him, even though he's not as glamorous as them- at least he has a better attitude, better technique and more experience. If you want a glamorous attack, pick Munaf Patel, Abid Nabi and Vikram Singh- that's just about enough.
I wouldnt chose Bandari in the north zone starting line up though for FC.
Then whom would you choose?
