Time to take a long term view

With the disastrous Australian tour having come to an end, the Indian selectors must now start building a team for the future. The good news is that they have options with many juniors waiting in the wings. The selectors can slowly but surely start investing on the talented youth who did the country proud by winning the under-19 World Cup.

Perhaps they can take a leaf out of the Australian book. If one carefully notices how the Australian side has evolved in the last few years, it will be seen that they have found suitable young players who are long term prospects. Mark Taylor, for example, was replaced by Michael Slater. Ricky Ponting has established himself in the middle order taking the pressure off from someone like Steve Waugh, who has been around for nearly 15 years. Moreover he is now been elevated to the vice captaincy. Then in the last year or so, Stuart MacGill has appeared on the scene to complement the efforts of Shane Warne. Similiar is the case with Brett Lee. His presence is enough to keep Glenn McGrath on his toes.

Our selectors too ought to start identifying suitable replacements. This is were the talented youngsters who did so well in Sri Lanka could be given ample opportunities and exposure at the high level. The best method initially would be to have the boys on the reserve list for the big games. RS Sodhi for example has shown maturity and the urge to perform in big matches and he can be earmarked for the No 6 slot for the future, keeping even the 2003 World Cup in mind.

Players like J. Arun Kumar, SS Das, Nikhil Haldipur and Ravneet Ricky can be kept in mind for the openers slot in the future. Md Kaif, the Under-19 captain can be earmarked for a place in the middle order. Of course this is where the exciting prospect Yuvraj Singh too fits in. But then Yuvraj also fits the bill of being the utility man in the Indian team in future.

Gifted spinners like Murali Kartik should also be encouraged and who knows? They may revive memories of past glory.

Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad are both in their early thirties. A long term view should be taken here too and bowlers like Amit Bhandari, Shalabh Sriwastava and T.Kumaran have to be set aside as understudies. This method has been followed by the Australians and the Pakistanis and bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Shoaib Akhtar and Craig McDermott have been discovered. Initially these players were in the shadow of their more illustrious predecessors but they were encouraged at an early age, sent out on tour, bowled on different wickets and emerged as front line bowlers in their own right.

With Indian cricket having touched a nadir, it is time for the selectors to shed their conservative attitude and adopt a bold, unconventional and long term approach. Over a period this is bound to yield results.