Three new faces, several old ones

Every time a team is selected, the disappointment of those left out will far outweigh the joy of those selected. In the latest episode of selection trials, the aggrieved parties would have to be Reuben Paul, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Mohammed Kaif. The three new faces in the team, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Vijay Dahiya were elated on hearing the news of their selection. However, while the selection of both Baroda left arm speedster Zaheer Khan and hard hitting Punjab batsman Yuvraj Singh were expected. Dahiya pipped Tamil Nadu stumper Reuben Paul to the post because he could "improvise better than others with the bat" according to chairman of the selection committee Chandu Borde.

The opening slots in the limited overs team are reserved well and truly for skipper Sourav Ganguly and master bat Sachin Tendulkar. As a back-up, the selectors have gone with southpaw Sridharan Sriram. Borde confirmed that Sriram was "selected as a third opener." This left Sriram's Tamil Nadu partner Ramesh out in the cold. Ramesh has shown great felicity at the top of the order in the past, and has been the one to step in if required. Averaging almost 30 with the bat as an opener, Ramesh's exclusion is intriguing.

The fast bowling department seems reasonably well stocked. Ajit Agarkar is clearly the spearhead. Venkatesh Prasad, who was left out of the team that played the Asia Cup in Dhaka, has been recalled because "he is a good bowler and has a lot of variation in his bowling," said Borde while announcing the squad in Chennai on Thursday. He also added that the mediumpacers selected for the Asia Cup came a cropper and that the selectors had to revert to Prasad. To complete the trio, left arm seamer Zaheer Khan steps in. Borde has had several complimentary things to say about Zaheer Khan in the past. Today he said, "Zaheer is a very promising young bowler and we all think he is the fastest bowler in the country at the moment." The last time a left arm seamer turned out for India with any regularity was Karsan Ghavri about twenty years ago.

In the spin department we have the usual suspects. The Karnataka duo of Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi is the best the country has to offer and for want of a more imaginative pair, the selectors have persisted with the two.

A long string of middle order batsmen including Vinod Kambli, Hemang Badani, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh seems reasonably solid. Robin Singh backing the batsmen up as a utility cricketer who bats low down the order is comforting. However, one wonders how well this middle order will fight if early wickets are lost. The return of Kambli was inevitable with experienced batsmen missing. Hard hitting Yuvraj Singh too has been making waves and is seen by many as a refreshing change.

Last, but certainly not the least, one comes to the specialist position - behind the stumps. Delhi keeper Vijay Dahiya figures ahead of Reuben Paul. Borde took the trouble of explaining that this was based on batting merit. Last season, Dahiya made 332 runs in first class cricket at an average of 22.13. Reuben Paul in comparison made 431 runs at an average of 30.7. True, statistics never show the complete picture. But if that is the case then one might want some clarification on Borde's comment that the team was selected "only on merit." Paul will feel hard done by and one will have to agree with him on that count.