Assorted thoughts on an assorted selection

It boggles the mind to hear that the national selectors have chosen a staggering 25 probables to be put through their paces at a conditioning camp for the Asia Cup that gets underway at the end of the month. A smaller and closer knit group would certainly have helped to create a better sense of team spirit and fellow feeling. The Board's reasoning that they need more bowlers to bowl at the camp, since the heat of Pune can be quite tiring, is rather specious as the most bloated section of the group are the middle order batsmen. And if the intention was to give some exposure to as many players as possible, it is not clear how a person like Hrishikesh Kanitkar whose failings have already been much exposed managed to infiltrate himself into this motley crew.

Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagopan Ramesh have been chosen as the reserve openers to Tendulkar and Ganguly but their services are unlikely to be required in the presence of men like Sridharan Sriram and Reetinder Sodhi who can double up as openers or lower down in the order and can bowl a full quota of overs too. Sodhi especially deserves a break after a fine all round season that netted 527 runs at 47.9 and 20 wickets at 21.7 in the Ranji Trophy.

In the middle order, the combination of Dravid, Azhar, Jadeja and Robin will probably be persisted with and Mohd. Kaif, after spending a long apprenticeship through two series, is unlikely to be dumped without being given an opportunity to prove himself. That leaves no place for any further batting pretenders which is a pity for Vinod Kambli. It's not going to be easy for him to sneak into the side again and if he does, he'll have to produce something rightaway or risk being consigned permanently to the also-rans. Kambli's mastery on subcontinent wickets and his ability to score at a dazzling pace have never been in doubt but his lack of fitness and the consequent effect on his fielding have tended to obstruct his progress.

Hemang Badani is a sureshot prospect in the longer term, being ideally suited for both versions of the game, but he'll have to be a bit patient I guess while Jacob Martin who averages just above 20 in 8 ODI's has been overtaken in the standings by other deserving candidates after the tour of Australia. The omission of VVS from the camp has resulted in many sharp intakes of breath and rightly so. Having branded him as a Test batsman, it will be interesting to see how they fit him into the Test eleven. Karim, Mongia and Dighe have played a game of musical chairs this season around the keeper's job and although it will bring undoubted relief to have a younger man in the saddle, Karim should probably hang on for the moment on the back of his showing for Bengal this season.

As for the bowlers, Kumble, Joshi and Chopra have held their places in the ODI side for a while now. Joshi's striking power with the bat should help him see off challengers like Murali Kartik and Chopra is the only off spinner in the list although the likes of Ramesh Powar should be coming head to head against him shortly. Ajit Agarkar had two distinctly unimpressive ODI series against South Africa at home and at Sharjah but his showing in the Ranji semis and finals buttresses his claim as frontline opening bowler.

Shockingly Venkatesh Prasad has been given the sack after being India's best bowler at Sharjah and then following it up with a commendable five wicket haul in the Ranji semis against a rampaging Hyderabad on a track giving minimal assistance to his ilk. Thiru Kumaran was very unconvincing against South Africa (so was everyone else one might add) and has had a poor domestic season too. With Amit Bhandari and Zaheer Khan being yet untested commodities at international level, the new ball department does not look reassuring. But if nothing else the experience of being thrown in at the deep end should toughen the rookies for the assignments to follow.