Vengsarkar's mistake as selector

From Mahesh, India
As Dilip Vengsarkar made way for Srikanth, there was a fair bit of appreciation from the press, and from himself too, of his tenure. But is it all true? Today Ponting made fun of the predicament India are in at Mohali where they cant play three fast bowlers on a pacer-friendly wicket because the man ideal for dropping is none other than the team's captain himself. Pity Vengsarkar didn't foresee this when he appointed as Captain a man who was in the evening of his career.

It should have been obvious to Vengsarkar that sooner or later India would want to play three fast bowlers and in such a situation was Kumble a clear first-choice spinner, given he quit one-day cricket after being dropped for Harbhajan? The problem doesn't stop here. After Kumble, Vengsarkar's panel left the current set of selectors with little choice but to appoint Dhoni as captain. (He will have the onerous responsibility of keeping wicket, batting and leading the side in all forms of the game.)

In my view many of the good decisions from the selectors were taken only when their hand were forced. For example, the Twenty20 team when the seniors withdrew by themselves. While Vengsarkar and a section of the press may well feel he deserves unstinting praise for a job well done, it's the current selection committee that is being forced to pay for some of his mistakes.