Making sense of strange omissions

All of a sudden assets could become liabilities; strengths turn into weaknesses. I suspect that is what happened to Rahul Dravid, when the squad for the one-dayers against Australia was picked. He played his assigned role to perfection when all around him did not. Still others held their places, he got the boot. Despite obvious injustice, he has held his dignity, maintained his composure and has not murmured anything faintly resembling dissent. What strength of character! Has his armour become his Achilles heel?

To be fair, selection is a zero-sum game and someone has to be axed to make way for someone else. Men in the hot seat prefer not to ruffle feathers, more so when the going is tough. A man who handles injustice with calmness and dignity is the easiest cat to bell. After all he can be trusted not to wash dirty linen in public.

By no means is this malaise peculiar to India. Australians Doug Walters and Brad Hodge, Pakistan’s Aaqib Javed and England’s Matthew Hoggard have been administered with doses of the same poison.

Some cricketers catch the eye with their high-voltage celebrations, designer appeals, and theatrical sledging which embellish their pure cricket. Others are happy chipping away quietly and cloaking their inner fire with outward tranquility. The former appeal more to human memory, even though the latter play an equally vital role.

Everyone rants and raves endlessly on Shahid Afridi’s heroics in the semi-final of the recent World Twenty20. Shoaib Malik’s beautifully paced innings acting as an ideal foil to Afridi, his accurate bowling and calm, assured catching was another highlight, but probably mentioned only as an after thought. The 2005 Ashes evokes memories of Flintoff’s exploits, Vaughan’s calm captaincy and Pietersen’s audacity, but Matthew Hoggard’s sustained hostility is probably in the mind’s recycle bin. Thus, the subconscious mind has already devalued Shoaib Malik and Matthew Hoggard. For the same reasons stocks with sound fundamentals are not always the favorites with investors.

Wars are won in small battles. Some cricketers play out of their skins in the earlier stages of a long campaign, setting the trend and laying the launching pad. Others deliver towards the end. The later acts remain etched in the mind like acid on a photographic plate, the former consigned to the back burner. Any discussion on India’s 1983 World Cup win would centre on Kapil’s 175 and his catches in the final, Sandhu’s magical delivery accounting for Greenidge, Srikanth’s daredevilry and Mohinder Amarnath’s all-round contribution. Yashpal Sharma, who compiled a fighting 89 in the path-breaking opening tie against the all-conquering West Indies, who top scored against Australia in the do-or-die league encounter; who guided India to the doorstep of victory in the semi-final, barely finds a mention in the footnote.

Low-profile men suffer from a double whammy. Their high points are under-priced and their failures, therefore, magnified. If a promising youngster has to be given a break, then they are seen as the most easily expendable. Doug Walters was overlooked for the 1981 Ashes, despite making plenty of runs in both legs of the twin series against India and New Zealand played earlier as the selectors wanted to blood Trevor Chappell and Dirk Welham.

When the superstars return, the more unassuming bear the cross. Aaqib Javed who scalped 16 wickets at 19.56 apiece in three Tests in 1995 against Sri Lanka found himself in the cold when Wasim and Waqar returned. He was forgotten by the selectors who preferred to plump for Mohammad Akram as the third seamer and played very few Tests after that. Sure, sneaking under the radar works your way occasionally. Mohammad Azharuddin became the Indian captain precisely for that reason. After all, it evens out in the end.