Let's persist with the youngsters

It was but appropriate that two youngsters, Zaheer Khan and Mohammad Kaif played crucial roles in India's stirring victory against Sri Lanka at Kandy, along with old warhorses Venkatesh Prasad and Rahul Dravid. Not to be forgotten is opener S Ramesh, who though quite experienced, is certainly one of the younger members of the Indian team. He held superb catches besides batting doggedly in both innings. Shiv Sundar Das did not make a major contribution, but he too spent considerable time at the crease, helping India fashion a reasonable start in the second innings.

Not long ago, young off spinner Harbhajan Singh bowled India to a famous victory over Australia at home, and though the wickets in Sri Lanka have offered him no appreciable help, he has earned the opponents' respect with his immaculate bowling. The injured Ashish Nehra has been a recent find of considerable promise and so have Virender Shewag and Yuvraj Singh in the one-day game.

All this tends to belie the oft-repeated lament that India does not possess reserve strength in its youth brigade. True, there have been cases of unfulfilled promise, but it has been more a matter of the selectors choosing the wrong candidates. A telling example from the not too distant past was the persistence with S Sriram as a one-day player. The young lefthander might have fared better in the longer version of the game. It was as if the selectors were keen to blood him, but with no opening in the Test squad then, decided to push him into ODIs.

There are other youngsters who have been tried and discarded all too soon. But Dinesh Mongia's case is a strange one. He toured Zimbabwe, did not exactly disgrace himself, but was dropped for the Coca-Cola triangular in Sri Lanka, only to be reinstated for the Test series now going on. Yuvraj Singh, on the contrary, did well in the triangular series, only to be found unfit for the Test matches. Both he and Virender Shewag, again being treated as a one-day specialist, would have gained considerably on this tour, even if they only watched from the sidelines, as Mongia, Sairaj Bahutule and Rahul Sanghvi are doing. The last two in particular would seem to have few chances of clinching permanent places in future Indian sides.

Most of the failures of newcomers to international cricket can be put down to lack of experience of the conditions and atmosphere of top-flight cricket on alien soil. Australia and New Zealand have been innovative in the way they provide their youngsters such exposure. Examples have been Kiwi participation in the MRF Buchi Babu tournament and the Australian academy sending its boys on tours of India and South Africa.

India can easily take a leaf or two out of their books. One immediate step could be to ensure regular India `A' tours abroad, even to the same countries ­ if feasible - where the seniors are engaged in combat, so that the team management have a ready stock of reserve players within easy reach. If India wants to improve its ranking among Test nations from its present seventh position, India `A' tours to Australia and South Africa will have to be an integral part of its regular schedule.