This hiring and firing will not do

Take a quick look at the personnel in the Indian team these days and one feels confident. Actually, at first glance, it does give the impression of being a well balanced unit. Whether it is Test matches or one day internationals, the batting and bowling - if not the fielding - does give one the impression that it is a side capable of holding its own against the best combinations in the world. Why is it then that the Indian team ended up a record of one win and five losses in eight Tests played during the 1999-2000 season? Or why the balance sheet shows many more defeats than victories in the one day games? It must also not be forgotten that five of the Tests were played at home and even here, the record was one win and two defeats.

The only rational explanation that one can offer is that the Indian team is not playing to its full potential. After all, this is a side which can boast of, by common consent, the best batsman in the world in Sachin Tendulkar, two gifted strokeplayers in Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, both enjoying a career Test average in the region of 50, a seasoned artist in Md Azharuddin, the second most experienced player in the world after Arjuna Ranatunga, a bowler like Anil Kumble, capable of taking all ten wickets in an innings and a medium pacer in Javagal Srinath who is still among the leading seamers in the world. Surely the Indian team's overall record should be much better than it is.

Faulty planning, lack of physical fitness, improper scheduling of tournaments and matches, too much cricket, lack of dedication and commitment, bad batting, bowling and fielding, the pressures of the match fixing scandal, inconsistent selection policy, a defensive and convervative approach, demoralisation tactics by the officials. These are some of the reasons commonly pointed out by Indian cricket fans in trying to analyse the recent failures of the national side.

I won't disagree with these reasons but in my book the hiring and firing of young players without giving them adequate opportunities would rank pretty high. I have repeatedly pointed out the examples of Richie Benaud and Alan Davidson and how they were persevered with by Australian selectors, even if their initial showing was not very encouraging. Theirs was obviously a case of potential far outweighing performance and the far sighted policy paid off rich dividends as the whole cricketing world knows. I have also spoken of the example of Arthur Morris whose scores in his first two Tests were 2 and 5. If he had been an Indian cricketer, that might have been the end of his Test career. Yet going by the adage `Form is temporary, class is permanent', the selectors picked him for the third Test. Morris repaid their confidence by scoring 155, the first of three centuries in successive Test innings and he was Australia's No 1 opening batsman for the next decade.

As I have pointed out in the past, India, thanks to the short sighted policy of the selectors, has the the most cricketers who have played just one or two Tests. This unkind approach was seen in the just concluded season too and one doubts whether any of the eight new players tried out in Tests this season will figure prominently in the selection for the next season. Devang Gandhi, Vijay Bhardwaj and MSK Prasad made their debut against New Zealand, Hrishikesh Kanitkar was given his cap in Australia while the selectors picked four newcomers for the two Test series against South Africa - Wasim Jaffer, Murali Karthik, Nikhil Chopra and Md Kaif. Don't be surprised if none of them figures in the squad during the 2000-2001 season. While Pakistan continue to discover and encourage players like Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and Yousuf Youhana, we continue to lag behind in this respect. The last two players India unearthed who have consolidated their position in the side were Ganguly and Dravid, back in 1996. Azhar played his first Test in 1984, Tendulkar in 1989, Kumble in 1990, Srinath in 1991 and Mongia in 1993. Since 1996 it has been a case of many players making a guest appearance or two.

This point is best exemplified by the game of musical chairs which the selectors have played in the case of the wicketkeepers. This was one slot in which there was more than a semblance of permanence in the Indian team, right from Engineer and Kunderan to Kirmani and More, from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the 1999-2000 season alone there were four stumpers in Mongia, MSK Prasad, Samir Dighe and Saba Karim. This kind of hiring and firing, besides upsetting the balance of the team, does no good in bolstering its morale.