A player who takes ten wickets in a match is picked for the Indian
team to tour Australia. Another player who scores a century in the
same game is not even picked for the India A team. Where is the logic
behind this mode of selection?
And yet Sitanshu Hargovind Kotak had to endure this kind of heartbreak
earlier this month. The 27-year-old left hander from Saurashtra had
scored a brilliant hundred for Rest of India against Karnataka in the
Irani Trophy tie at Bangalore last month. Along with Tamil Nadu's
Kumaran who shot to fame with his ten wicket haul in the match, Kotak
did the most to shape a Rest of India win over the favourites. And
yet, while Kumaran was pitchforked into national reckoning, Kotak was
out in the wilderness. There were some questionable inclusions and
omissions in the India A side but these were overlooked possibly
because both the teams were announced simultaneously. But even under
these circumstances, Kotaks's non inclusion was made an issue. Not
surprisingly, for if there was one player who deserved a berth it was
this doughty Rajkot born fighter.
Kotak certainly took his omission hard. Who wouldn't, given the
circumstances? Only last season, he had scored almost 800 runs in the
Ranji Trophy, enabling Saurashtra to qualify for the super league for
the first time. His selection for the Rest of India team was a just
reward and Kotak made the most of the opportunity by getting 118
against Srinath, Ganesh and Kumble, even as only one other batsman got
a fifty. Always the man for a crisis, Kotak relished the situation as
he got his team out of trouble. Kotak is not the epitome of the
traditional gifted and graceful left hander. He is on the other hand a
pugnacious fighter, the kind of batsman any captain would love to have
in his team.
Now however fortune has belatedly smiled on Kotak. The injury to Ajay
Jadeja necessitated some changes. The India A captain Hrishikesh
Kanitkar was picked to replace Jadeja and Kotak was chosen to take
Kanitkar's place. As he flies away to the Caribbean, one only hopes
that he gets enough opportunities to display his tenacious qualities.