'Tainted' players axed, youngsters drafted in and much, much more

Chandu Borde Chairman of Selectors

Although today's selection committee meeting in Chennai did not throw up any major surprises, the gathering of scribes noted with pleasure that the `tainted' cricketers would not be part of the team traveling to Kenya to play the International Cricket Council knock out trophy. Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Nikhil Chopra have been overlooked as they are still being investigated over charges of matchfixing. The fact that these players have been left out made room for many youngsters to be picked.

A group of 23 cricketers was selected to attend the preparatory camp that will, in all probability be held in Chennai from September 13 to 23. Sourav Ganguly retains the captaincy, while key players Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Robin Singh, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar and Sadagopan Ramesh all retain their places. However a string of youngsters have also been included. Prominent among the newcomers are National Cricket Academy wards Yuvraj Singh, Sridharan Sriram, Mohammed Kaif, Ajay Ratra and Reetinder Singh Sodhi.

Tamil Nadu stumper Reuben Paul makes his way into the probables list. Although he has performed well for many years, this is Reuben's first big break. Baroda left arm speedster Zaheer Khan gets his first chance at international cricket.

Although the selection of these youngsters bodes well, the Board has picked a number of cricketers who have been around for a few years and yet have failed to impress. Delhi stumper Vijay Dahiya finds a place in the squad as does Mumbai southpaw Vinod Kambli. The 28-year-old has been overlooked in the recent past and suddenly finds himself back in contention. Having played just one match in Bangladesh, Hemang Badani gets another go.

Jacob Martin, Amit Bhandari, Debashish Mohanty and Thirunavukarasu Kumaran who have played for India before with less than flattering results have also been drafted in.

Railways left arm spinner Murali Kartik, Delhi's Virendra Sehwag and Mumbai paceman Santosh Saxena were also considered and not picked.

Speaking to pressmen soon after the meeting, Chandu Borde, Chairman of Selectors said that the squad was chosen "with the future in mind." In the same breath he defended the inclusion of Kambli, "He has performed very consistently with the bat in the last season. He's a good striker of the ball and with One Day cricket in mind we have decided to include him." Talking about the fact that the `tainted' players were not picked, Borde said "Considering the present scenario, the (tainted) players would be under tremendous pressure. They will not be able to concentrate on cricket to the maximum extent. That is one of the reasons. We also thought that it is better to give youngsters a chance." In a slightly contradictory statement he added, "it is not that these players will not be considered. Given the present scenario we thought it would be better for them to take rest. That's the best possible option - from the team's point of view and from their (tainted players') point of view."

The secretary of the BCCI, Jaywant Lele said that the board would take a decision on the future of Kapil Dev's tenure as coach before the start of the preparatory camp at Chennai. He added that the list of 23 selected today would be pruned to 14 around September 19.