The Indian selectors named the squad for the Carlton United Series
last week. One of the omissions was Tamil Nadu's T Kumaran. Kumaran
performed well in the two one-day internationals he played against New
Zealand and also in the first couple of tour games in Australia. In
the very first tour game against Queensland, he took 5 wickets in
Queensland's first innings. In the game against the Prime Minister's
XI, he took 3 wickets as Symonds and Fitzgerald thrashed the bowling
around. At that point on the tour, it seemed very likely that Kumaran
would make his test debut at Adelaide as the third seamer along with
Srinath and possibly Prasad.
Agarkar made 65 in India's second innings against New South Wales and
that tilted the scales in his favour. Agarkar's performances with the
ball were nowhere near Kumaran's before the test. The team management
however decided that going in with Agarkar would be a better option
because he provided them with a less brittle lower order. This,
despite Kumaran's decent batting in the one-day games against New
Zealand and the first few tour games.
Agarkar went on to play at Adelaide. His bowling in Australia's first
innings was pretty shabby. But he did seem to justify his inclusion
with a good contribution in the Indian innings along with the other
tailenders. It was in India's second innings that his horror story
started.
With India in tatters at 93/6 chasing 396 to win, Agarkar guided the
first ball he received straight to Steve Waugh. In the next test at
Melbourne, Agarkar's bowling was of a very high quality. But you
couldnt say the same of his batting. In India's first innings, he was
hit on the pads on the full by Brett Lee and was in front of his
stumps.
Surely things couldn't get worse. But they did. In the second innings,
he fell first ball to Mark Waugh of all people. Srinath had by now
remembered to make sure he was padded off the moment Agarkar's name
was put up in the lineup. Bob Holland holds the record with 5 consecutive
ducks. Mohinder Amarnath had scores of 0,0,1,0,0 & 0 against West Indies
in the 1983/84 series at home. But surely four first-ball ducks in three
consecutive innings was a feat never accomplished before. Could it be
bettered ? Who would ?
Agarkar did it again today at Melbourne. He gave the easiest of
catches to Mark Waugh. Mark Waugh was nicknamed Audi after he
collected consecutive pairs during Australia's test series in Sri
Lanka in 1992. Ajit Agarkar could in fact do one better because he
still has one more test innings to go in Australia ! Perhaps Olympic
is a good nick for him. Srinath has now saved 3 out of 4 hat-tricks
with his batting prowess thanks to Agarkar.
If Agarkar was chosen on the basis of his batting prowess and he is
performing badly with the bat, then why was Kumaran sent back and
Mohanty retained even though Kumaran's bowling has been far better
than anything Mohanty managed ?
The other strange selection has been Sameer Dighe as wicketkeeper. A
few days ago, Nayan Mongia was sent back because MSK Prasad had
recovered from his injury. Mongia was in fact not selected for the
tour originally because the selectors and team management felt that
MSK Prasad was a good investment for the future. So why the sudden
turn around ? Has MSK Prasad's keeping or batting deteriorated so much
between December 26th and 30th that he was no longer good enough for a
spot in the side ? If the selectors were investing in youth then why
is a 31 year old wicketkeeper replacing a 24 year old ?
It might be worth recalling that Tendulkar insisted on Mumbai's Nilesh
Kulkarni replacing Sunil Joshi during the test series against New
Zealand. When MSK Prasad injured himself earlier during this tour, the
team management had requested specifically for Sameer Dighe to be the
replacement. Instead they got Nayan Mongia. This time though they seem
to have had their way.
Kumaran's exclusion in favour of Agarkar, Dighe's inclusion in place
of MSK Prasad and the way Tendulkar openly indicated during the NZ
series that he wanted Kulkarni in the squad instead of Joshi do seem
to indicate that Tendulkar is more comfortable with things when he has
his Mumbai mates around him. Should the captain and indeed the other
members of the team management have their way all the time ?
There have been many cases where the selectors have never heeded the
captains advice. Tendulkar has himself been a victim of this when his
request for a fast/medium bowler replacing an injured Srinath for the
1997 tour of the West Indies was tossed aside by the selectors. Noel
"Who ?" David was sent as the replacement. It is a tight rope for the
selectors to walk. We do long for the day when Indian teams will be
selected on cricketing ability rather than regional considerations and
"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" situations.