Argument: Making sense of controversial selection moves for tour of Australia

The international calendar is set to be back after a long Covid-break. With the Indian team locking horns against Australia later this month, it seems that the buzz and the controversies surrounding it have also returned. Much has been spoken about the selection of the Indian team for the series Down Under and the panel has come under intense scrutiny over their choices. 

The selection committee led by Sunil Josi met for the first time to select an Indian team and although they were not available for press interaction, there were enough takeaways from the squads that were picked for the ODIs, T20Is and the Test series. 

The selection process for the tour of Australia was tough and full of difficult choices for the selectors who had to pick a jumbo squad keeping in mind the tough protocols that the team will be imposed upon in Australia. They had the job of picking a side with players who promise to perform well in Australian conditions while also not overlooking veterans with experience on Australian soil which can look completely of opposite natures while batting and bowling (ask MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly). 

The squads were mixed with the names of players who picked themselves while the inclusion of some players also reignited the debate on issues such as the role of domestic First-Class cricket, performance in the IPL and influence of IPL performances on Test team selection.

Here are the four major takeaways from the selection of squads for the Australian tour.

The ascendency of KL Rahul to a leadership position

The selectors have rewarded KL Rahul for his excellent performances with the bat and leadership qualities. This comes off the back of him leading the Kings Punjab back from the brink of elimination to their current position where the team is vying for a spot in the top four on the points table. He has been named as the vice-captain of the side while the usual deputy of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, is not in the squad due to an injury.

The promotion emphasises the role that selectors see Rahul playing over the next few years as one of the wise men of the Indian team after the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma era. He has been exquisite with his bat and stands way above the rest in the list of leading run-scorers in the ongoing season of the IPL.

KL Rahul has been one of the most utility players for the Indian cricket team in the last 18 months or so. While his performances in Test cricket attracted criticism, his exploits in the white-ball formats have been phenomenal, to say the least. He is too good a player and was in such good form that the Virat Kohli-led team management could not ignore his prowess in the ODI series against New Zealand in March, earlier this year. 

The hits and misses of Rishabh Pant in the limited-overs series did blessings in disguise for the team as Virat Kohli got a window to play Rahul while his place in the team at the top of the order was not vacant at all. Rahul owned the place of a wicket-keeper batsman in the team on the back of towering performances in the white-ball series in New Zealand. Selectors would hope his shoulders will be fresh for the dual duty of donning the gloves and finishing the game for the sides in limited-overs games in Australia.

Hardik Pandya, the specialist batsman has a long way to go

Hardik Pandya has not played for India since September last year and in Test cricket, his appearances dating back to the tour of England in 2018. Pandya has had a history of injuries in the last two years and his body has not coped well with the demand that has arisen out of the talents he possesses as an all-rounder. 

He is no Ben Stokes by any stretch of the imagination, but for a nation like India which has been on the search for a pace-bowling all-rounder since forever, Pandya has been that light at the end of a long tunnel. However, his body has not quite been on terms with it and India had to do the hard yards of balancing the team in his absence in the last one year.

A delayed IPL raised hope for the return of Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder in full flow but he has not bowled a single ball and the tournament is nearing its end. He has not lost his power and ball striking abilities and that would relieve the Indian management as he has been belting the balls to all part of the ground, but his role for the India team is deeper than few cameos here and there and whenever he is available for selection as an all-rounder, Kohli will want the reliance of 10 overs from him.

By the looks of it, Pandya is not back with his all-round ability and the selectors too, have dropped a hint as to how they are flexible with Pandya’s role in the squad. Belligerence with the bat has earned him the place back in the white-ball squads while a Test return will test both his resolve and fitness. The selectors are not ready to trust either his fitness or the batting in the longest format of the game as he has not been named in the Test squad to take on Australia. He may or may not find a place in the playing XI in ODIs but he is capable enough in selectors’ views to deserve a place in the squad that shows his batting and the aggressive intent he brings with himself is valuable for the team in the shorter formats.

FITNESS MATTERS IN SELECTION

When Zaheer Khan had pulled up his hamstring on the first day of the tour to England in 2011, there were feelings of remorse among fans and frustrations among experts and analysts that how can an undercooked Zaheer find a place in the squad and it ignited the much-needed debate on the difference between being fit and ‘match fit.’

Fans were sulking and probably they were of the view that selectors had to pick Zaheer for his excellence with the Dukes ball and there was no one who could win the games and series for India with the ball other than Zaheer and his absence also proved that argument true. 

Fast forward to 2020, and Indian team is blessed with superb bowlers who have championed the art of seam and swing bowling over the course of past few years but Ishant Sharma who was once tamed as ‘unlucky’ to be not among wickets in the last decade has finally come of age and become the leader of the pack he promised to become in 2008 after that iconic spell to Ricky Ponting in Perth.

Yes, India does have the luxury of varieties that Jasprit Bumrah brings and the seam movement that Mohammed Shami promises to offer but Ishant’s role has been immense. The fact that he has found a place in the playing XI on almost all the matches when the team toured overseas bears testament to the value he brings for the team as a bowler of all situations and for all pitches. 

Keeping all that in mind, selectors could have easily opted for Ishant Sharma’s availability in Australia would have banked upon him to regain fitness and play some role at any point of time in the Test series that anyway is scheduled to take place in December. But, selectors have made a tough call of not getting swayed by the value and reputation of players and their persona and have sent a strong signal to all the current and aspiring players that fitness is non-negotiable for the selection into the Indian team.

The current crop of bowlers under the leadership of Virat Kohli are supremely fit and the policy of non-selection purely on the basis of the level of fitness and irrespective of the stature of players and their form is bearing fruit for the team.

A note to Rishabh Pant-- promises alone won’t take you any further

In his short international cricket career, Rishabh Pant has attained the reputation of being an enigma that Rohit Sharma had held for so long. After bursting onto the scene with flamboyance and unbelievable ball striking, if anyone had told Rishabh Pant and Indian cricket fans that he will cement his place in the Test team while losing the place in the T20Is and ODIs after almost two years, both Pant and fans would have burst out laughing. 

But the reality is as weird as it could have been for Pant as the left-handed batter has gone out of favour of the limited-overs squad to Australia. Selectors have banked on Sanju Samson to fill the gap in case of Rahul’s unavailability with the gloves while his consistency with the bat left Pant with no choice but to perform and pile on match-winning performances which did not arrive.

The IPL 2020 alone may not have influenced selectors in overlooking the promises Pant had to offer in the last two years without delivering consistently but the fact that he has looked a shadow of the batsman he used to be in the previous editions of the IPL and the evidence of a cluttered mind may well have accentuated the selectors’ anxiety about him.

Pant was brilliant with the bat on the last tour of Australia and it’s likely that he will be donning the gloves yet again, but more for his batting than his wicket-keeping and that is a sad aspect of modern Test cricket. Rishabh was tried in 27 T20Is but mere two fifties in 25 innings he played with an abysmal average of 20.5 and a fairly average strike rate of 122, Pant has no one but himself to blame for his exclusion from the limited-overs squad. 

His exclusion from the white-ball squads also suggests that selectors could not be influenced with performances in other formats while picking the team for another and that KL Rahul found a place in the Test team shows that selectors are willing to invest more on KL Rahul while putting Pant on an alert with exclusion from the limited-overs team.

The upcoming tour of Australia holds a special place for the BCCI and the Indian cricket fans and they would be hopeful for a similar return to that of the last tour. Virat Kohli will bank on batsmen to provide cushion to bowlers as they will be touring after a long and tiring IPL. The challenges for the Virat Kohli-led side will be monumental with Steve Smith and David Warner being all set to return for the Aussies and the bowlers will have to raise their game to go past the duo who have plummeted Indian bowlers to the ground on tours preceding the last one.

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