Made in Indian Cricket ft. selection conundrum, fitness and ghosting

Made in Indian Cricket ft. selection conundrum, fitness and ghosting

no photo

|

BCCI

In a country of 1.3 billion, controversies are part and parcel like baked beans and toast in England. Just like the English breakfast, controversies are consumed by the Indians starting from the morning.

While baked beans are a good source of protein and are high in fibre, for the development of Indian cricket, controversies are high in fibre. Baked beans and toast, India cricket and controversies; one and the same. However, chronically giving something to your body that causes distress can lead to many issues. Be it beans, or be it controversies every day. 

Despite the board being miles ahead of the other cricketing boards in terms of money, when it comes to handling pressure, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) takes a measured stance. Plenty of times in the past, the Indian cricket fans have had questions for their dearest board on why a player is treated a certain way or why someone is prone to injuries or what is wrong with the selection. 

With Indian cricket, there is everything of it and plenty more which are looked into with a microscope and justified, right? All of this comes on the back of a 2-1 comeback win over Australia, however, some of them started a year ago. 

Oh, KL Rahul, where do we fit you?

India’s biggest fear came true when all the three-openers started performing. After Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the Windies tour, KL Rahul was promoted at the top of the order. First, Rohit Sharma and Rahul put on what could truly be defined as a master-class for the opening wicket, making the West Indian bowlers look like club cricketers. Granted that the Windies bowlers were not the best of test against the right-handed duo in India, however, you can not take it away from them for dismantling the visitors' bowling attack. Well, let me be more descriptive on what happened in the series against Windies at home: Rahul and Rohit blew the card pyramid stacked by the visitors.

It was almost as if the 'R brothers' took the candy out of the Windies bowlers. In a three-game series, the duo piled up 370 runs at an average of 123.3, ticking 5.72 runs every over. The result? Domination against the visitors with Rahul, in particular, looking sharper than ever in an Indian jersey. It almost looked like the in-form 'R brothers' would take over in the partnership.

However, Shikhar Dhawan was still waiting patiently for his chance. And, India then went on and rested Rohit against Sri Lanka. The result? Dhawan and Rahul put on a blockbuster that was way off the charts. Now, they tried both the combinations and clearly the 'R brothers' had an edge, or that is what we believed. BCCI and Virat Kohli, in particular, did not. They wanted to capitalise on all the three at the top of the order like a stock-broker does when the market is up and running. Like a mutual fund, it was always subjected to market risk, and India quickly realised that in the opening ODI. With the exception of Rohit, Dhawan and Rahul played well despite it meaning that Kohli dropped down to No.4. 

The move back-fired like the Indian Cricket League before the inception of Indian Premier League and as a result, Rahul went to No.5. Talk about a radical change. So if Rahul drops down to No.5 and also keeps wicket, does that mean that Rishabh Pant falls down the order? You never know with the BCCI, do you?

An injury a series keeps the bowlers away

When Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were reported to make their swift return to International cricket, it had Bhuvneshwar Kumar written all over it. Bhuvneshwar syndrome is when a bowler is forced to play in a series despite still not being 100% fit. India were guilty of doing this multiple times to the right-handed pacer and moreover did not learn despite erring multiple times. They played the pacer in the T20I series against West Indies and the result, the 29-year-old was immediately ruled out of the future ODI series against West Indies, Australia and T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Deepak Chahar, too, unfortunately, thanks to BCCI’s handling of the bowlers’ workload, followed him. Four injuries in the span of three series, there was always writing on the wall that pointed out how Indian management handles a players’ health. And to make it worse, Shikhar Dhawan got injured twice in two series and to top it all, they nearly rushed Hardik Pandya straight back, coming off a back injury. Well, does it remind of one certain figure in the yellow jersey scoring a boundary limping on one foot?

Ghosting you didn’t know ft. Dinesh Karthik

Well, one day you are the king and the other day, you are banished away from the kingdom into the deep waters of nowhere. It can be the narration of a horror story or could be the narration of Dinesh Karthik’s biography in Indian cricket. Vividly, everyone remembers him for failing in the semi-final against New Zealand in the World Cup. He failed, so did Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and BCCI’s dear-o-dear Rishabh Pant. Agreed that he is 34 years old, however, that does not mean that you boot a player after playing him out of position.

Well, that is exactly where cricket in India with this management has arrived. Post the World Cup, there have been no signs of Dinesh Karthik around the Indian camp; The man is miles away with the Tamil Nadu team taking them to the finals of both the limited-overs format, not even being in the line of contention for India. 

Hold your horses, there are other cases in the past where the players were left surprised, gutted and more often than not disappointed when the selectors did not have a word with them regarding their performance. It is not the first time that ghosting is happening in Indian cricket and neither will it be the last. The communication has just been tossed out of the park like Rohit Sharma handles the leather early on in the innings or how Shikhar Dhawan puts on a god-like figure in ICC tournaments. 

Rishabh ‘Ezio’ Pant’s leap of faith

The ‘curious case of Rishabh Pant,’ a series that only BCCI could explain to the fans. However, there is no explanation or need for the TV series to be shot in the first place. If you put the management in the confession booth, they would honestly have no idea on how to explain the selection of the left-handed gem Rishabh Pant. The southpaw is a rare diamond, no doubt. However, unlike the diamond which is formed under pressure, the character in question here succumbs under one. Pant’s batting is far off from what the selectors foresaw and when there are talks about his keeping, it is safe to say that he is far off from being the best in the country. 

Ezio Pant’s leap of faith certainly is not helped by the BCCI or the management who went to KL Rahul as a backup keeper. Further, Indian skipper Kohli came out and admitted that it gave India the batting edge. 

“It (Rahul's keeping) definitely allows us to play an extra batsman which strengthens our batting massively. That is a very important factor as far as the team balance is concerned,” Kohli’s words exactly following India’s series victory over Australia. 

‘Now’deep Saini or only till Deepak Chahar or Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns

Till 22nd September, Navdeep Saini was a certain starter in the Indian team after impressing one and all in the five games that he had played for India by then. However, just like every selection, this, too, was elusive as he was dropped immediately for a returning Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar. The 29-year-old from Meerut was picked in the squad and immediately played at the cost of Saini, who until then was creating inroads. It was highly risky at that point to include the Meerut pacer, as he was just returning from the injury he suffered at the Cricket World Cup against Pakistan. 

BCCI’s management of players clearly had its say here and Saini was put back into the ODI squad. Ever since, though, Saini has been a dominant force in the bowling-unit and has got the appreciation that he deserves. 

"This was a clinical performance, and that's how we want to build on each series. We have ticked a few more boxes this time. Brilliant from Navdeep (Saini),” said Kohli after the West Indies series. But guess what, just like every other decision so far, the BCCI will go back to the door knocking for the help of Bhuvneshwar Kumar when the time comes despite Saini’s god-like performance. 

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all