Ayub surprised by sidelining of Hyderabad players

One of the curious features about the list of 23 probables for the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi is the absence of any player from the beaten finalists in the Ranji Trophy last season, Hyderabad. A more pertinent indicator of Hyderabad's fall from grace is its lack of representation in the National Cricket Academy. Ambati Rayudu, the 14- year-old sensation, was added to the second batch of trainees almost as an afterthought. Even during their 1999-2000 Ranji campaign, Hyderabad relied heavily on senior players like Mohd. Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju and Kanwaljit Singh. Indeed there are hardly any young players in the team whom one could consider remotely on the fringes of national selection. The coach of the Hyderabad team, Arshad Ayub, fielded a few queries on what these developments boded for the future of this former cricketing powerhouse during an informal chat with CricInfo in Hyderabad.

"No, actually not. I was quite surprised in fact", he replied when asked if he had foreseen that Hyderabad would not find representation among the probables. "Laxman who scored 1400 runs last season has been ignored for two series now (Dhaka and Nairobi). I feel it is a little too much. Even if you consider him as a five day player, his record shows that most of the time he has got a century before lunch. I feel he is very well suited for one-dayers and he can bowl a bit also with his fastish off breaks", he remarked. Ayub was also scathing on the Board's suggestion that tainted players like Mohd. Azharuddin were left out because they were not in the right frame of mind to focus on the game. "These players have gone through a lot more pressure than what they are going through today. They were in a corner many times during their career and came out of it really well. I think they have been ignored unnecessarily. They are more professional than people expect them to be."

Ayub agreed partly that the team had ridden on the back of senior players last season. "In important games it was like that. But we have won games without Azhar and Laxman. In the final the youngsters didn't come through. In the last two games they were not really upto the mark. But before that Nandakishore did well. Last year Fiaz Ahmed and Parth Satwalkar made their debuts. These people have done their jobs to make the final." About the lack of representation in the NCA, Ayub was pretty vocal. "Only a few days back, Ambati Rayudu was asked to join but there was no one before that. It's an irony that we came to the Ranji Trophy final but don't find a place in the NCA. One player from Hyderabad, Arjun Yadav, went to Sri Lanka for the Under-19 World Cup but he doesn't find a place here." Rayudu, who scored a hundred against West Indies in the Under-15 World Cup in England last month, also came in for comment. I asked Ayub about Under-15 coach Roger Binny's declaration that Rayudu was ready to play in the Ranji Trophy right away. "I don't agree with that. He has to play at least one more season of Under-19 cricket. If he does well this year, I'll be ready to consider him. I don't want to pressurise him. Early exposure may destroy his cricket", Ayub warned.