Rahul Dravid in a press meeting talked about the balance of the team and opportunity for younger players and coming to a decision about the final team that would get a ticket to World Cup 2007.
The hobnobbing with the team, it seems, would not come to a stop despite the fact that the so called ‘experimentation’ has actually brought the team to the brink of defeat in almost all games. The two ODIs that were won were so close that the team and especially the team management would have felt very uncomfortable despite the wins.
Sehwag has been overlooked. But why is the management unwilling to talk about Sachin. The evident unease displayed by Sachin during the last few innings has possibly failed to register in the minds of the management and they are deliberately avoiding the question of the demoralizing effect that his failures have on the rest of the team and especially the younger players who have grown up viewing Sachin as a role model. Sachin was given rest for the Ranji Trophy match before the Windies series but he still is in the team when the likes of Dhoni are rested. Is it an indication to Dhoni that he is now not the indispensible Dhoni that he became in the recent past just because of the new found Kartik? If Sreesanth was rested in the Cuttack ODI what has changed since the Nagpur ODI that makes him suddenly more desirable than Zaheer? Powar getting three wickets in the Cuttack ODI suddenly makes Harbhajan dispensable for the Chennai ODI. Sourav, of course, has been an object of misuse for more than a year and it does not surprise anymore if he is finally being driven to underperform. What better way to stall and disturb his rhythm and focus than to ask him to rest. The players who have been exposed to playing rigorous matches every alternate day do not perhaps need “rest” , what they need is more confidence.
Perhaps Rahul would wonder why cricket lovers like me would be so interested in the way things are being managed by the Cricket team. Well, while I was writing this piece I overheard one of the enws channel say that Vengsarkar has confirmed that Ganguly would Open in World Cup. That eventually makes one question – Is the Chief Selector now a part of the Team Management and has taken the reins over from Chappell and Dravid?