A dose of the short stuff

In 2003, the BCCI decided to ban one-day tournaments for the levels below and including the Under-17s. The board's Spin Wing, which includes the famed quartet of the 1970s, reckoned that it would help spinners who would otherwise be forced to grow up bowling restrictive lines. Dilip Vengsarkar, the Chief Talent and Resource Development Officer, hailed the move on the grounds that it would expose young cricketers to the mental and physical demands of the longer form of the game. But is there a flip side? A glance across the border is revealing.

Despite being hampered by similar problems with regard to fitness, and despite having a virtually negligible junior-cricket structure, Pakistan have produced some quality one-day allrounders in the last decade - Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi and Azhar Mahmood. Until the Under-19 level, most junior cricketers in Pakistan are exposed only to one-day cricket, through locally organised tournaments. And unlike in India, all school games are also limited-overs affairs.

Speak to Pravin Amre, the head of the junior selection committee in India, about the all-round talent at junior levels and he will tell you that "there are only three or four players at the moment who are good with both bat and ball". On the other hand, Sikandar Bakht, the former Pakistan seamer who now coaches junior cricketers in Karachi, speaks of a surfeit of all-round talent. "Almost 95 per cent of the cricketers I see every year can bat and bowl equally well," he says. "Since they play only one-day cricket, almost all junior teams have 11 batsmen and seven or eight bowlers. Once they reach the Under-19 level, there are a few players who shift to specialist roles but we have such a large base of allrounders that some make it to the international stage."

Food for thought for the BCCI?