1st ODI - Australia beat India by 65 runs 
When selectors took one step forward and ten steps backward |
The Indian cricket board more often than not resemble the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) where the trading happens and fates of millions of investors are changed in a matter of minutes and in some cases, in a matter of a few political announcements.
The BCCI, however, is thankfully bestowed with the demi-god status to alter the fates of a handful and on Friday took the cricketing world by surprise — this time with its sheer ability to spring of surprises. While most chose themselves by the sheer weight of their performances, there are others who literally have their weights to carry (Yuvi! You reading this?) and almost select themselves.
The team announced for the Twenty20 World Cup at the Caribbean had its share of surprises. The first and foremost was the inclusion of Piyush Chawla, currently playing in the IPL-3 for the Kings XI Punjab.
If records are any yardstick to go by, the right-arm leg spinner has played five matches this season, picking three wickets at an awesomely aweful average of 44.33 and with an economy of 7.38. Also, I would like to bring this to the notice of the reader that the intention is not to question the credentials of Chawla but to question the selectors on the logic of dropping Deccan Chargers’ Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.
For the record, Ojha has bagged five wickets from as many matches at an average of 30.80 while teammate Amit Mishra has bowled even better — is currently the fifth highest wicket-taker on the IPL-3 bowlers’ list. He has had an impressive average of 23.00, taking seven wickets from six games this season.
Mishra and Ojha have been part of the Indian team cog for a year now but have not been given enough chances to rate them, forget dropping them on the basis of their performance. For a bowler who made his debut in 2008, Ojha has just played just four T20s and nine appearances in one-dayers. Interestingly, a bowler who is no more talked about in the same breadth as the ones mentioned above is Kolkata Knight Riders’ Murali Karthik. The left-arm spinner has an economy of 5.57 in the ongoing IPL-3 and someone has to be blind if these statistics are not taken into consideration by the so-called wise men.
It’s just a shame when we talk about a team that is sitting atop the points table in the Tests and is one of the high-profile sides in other two formats of the game but has a bunch of selectors who take one step forward and ten steps backward.
Written By: Prasad Posted on: 30-03-2010
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Sr. Sports sub-editor for Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad.Have penned a book titled "Raising the bat", released in 2008 by former Indian skipper Nari Contractor. Also owns a website www.cricforu.com
5 comments
kapil Kaushik
15-04-2010piyush chawla is a good leggie but a victim of being exposed too early and hyped also. chawla's time has gone and he dont fit into the best playing eleven. but our selectors has to do something every time so that they are in news for wrong reasons. still wishing chawla and indian team a very best of luck for the t20 world cup.
