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'Selection with an eye on the future'

It was the first selection committee meeting after the appointment of Kapil Dev as coach of the Indian team. Sharad Diwadkar, executive secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, issued a statement saying that the committee would meet at 1100 hours IST, in the conference room of the Mumbai Cricket Association, to select the team for the first Test against New Zealand at Mohali from October 10.

So there I was at the Wankhede stadium at 1030 hours, hoping to find one of the selectors for a quick chat. But the only people around were BCCI honorary secretary Jaywant Lele and MCA joint secretary Prof. Ratnakar Shetty.

As I waited at the entrance of the MCA office, my eyes caught chairman of selectors Chandu Borde alighting from a cab and searching his pockets for change. Borde had just arrived from Pune. What a pity, there was none from the BCCI to receive him!

Within a couple of minutes, the five selectors, along with Lele, were at the conference room posing for the media. But then suddenly it was chaos as scribes and photographers started rushing out of the room, as if it was infected with plague.

"Sachin aaya re," screamed one, and soon the rest were out to catch a glimpse of the master batsman as he dropped his kit at the back of his steel grey Mercedes. Sporting a red Adidas T-shirt and designer jeans, with the bottoms tucked inwards, Sachin made his way towards the conference room. He had come straight from the ground where he had been practicing since eight in the morning.

But the meeting did not commence. The media had to wait for another 30 minutes for the 'Haryana Hurricane' to hit the Wankhede stadium. Meanwhile, the selectors along with Sachin decided to rest in MCA president Manohar Joshi's room.

One may ask: Would Anshuman Gaekwad, Madan Lal or Sandeep Patil have been excused for keeping the selectors waiting?

I asked a denim-clad Madan Lal the reason for delay. He replied, "What delay? The meeting is at 12 o'clock. Kapil will be here before that."

As we waited for Kapil paaji to arrive, I struck up a conversation with the MCA official waiting alongside me.

So, are you happy with the selection of Kapil as coach?, I asked.

" Oh! well, it has more cons than pros. Kapil believes in maintaining lobbies and playing his cards well. With Kapil as coach we can rest assured that we have to bear the burden of one player in all forms of the game irrespective of the game plan…, throwing a spanner on all strategies and the balance of the team. Jadeja will definitely play in Tests from now on.

"Also, Kapil is too strong a personality to handle a job like this. As much as it might help the team, it can also prove to be detrimental to the team's interests. He will, on more than one occasion, rub the selectors the wrong way and throw his weight around. I honestly don't expect to see him complete his tenure of two years. Wonder why he is asking for three years," said the official.

He added: "I spoke to Azhar a couple of days ago and he said he was rather hurt over Kapil's remark that he should retire gracefully. 'Jab apne pe ati hai tab pata chalta hai' (When it happens to you do you realise), he told me," said the official.

The official continued: "Azhar said that Kapil has forgotten the time when he carried his burden for two full years.He told me: 'I took all the flak for him so that he could get to his milestone of being the highest wicket-taker. Most of the players were so upset about his inclusion. But my time will come again'. Azhar has this amazing knack of hitting back after being sacked. He has tremendous will power. Being very philosophical helps his cause and he has promised himself that he will be back."

Finally, Kapil arrived at 1215 hours. Straight from London, they said. As one of the MCA officials wished him luck, he replied, "For what? I'm not going for a war."

As the media scampered behind him to get that a picture or those sound bites, Kapil looked relaxed in his baggy trousers and seemed unfazed about attending his first selection meeting as coach.

For the next two hours the committee was closeted in the conference room amidst reassurances from officials that the meeting would be over soon.

"Sachin is tired and hungry. He has been practicing since eight in the morning," said one of the officials in charge of hospitality at the venue.

"So what have you treated the captain with?" asked a concerned journalist. "Sachin loves upma and alu wada. But he's having sandwiches right now, and lots of them," replied the official.

After two, long hours, the coach and the captain of the Indian team stepped out of the meeting. A tired skipper made his way to the parking lot, evading any queries, saying that he is not supposed to talk to the media.

The Haryanvi Jat was at ease as he followed the skipper. "Captain is happy, coach is happy," he told the converging media. Sachin looked back at Kapil and said: "Captain is happy, manager is happy."

Wonder what Sachin meant, though it raised a lot of chuckles from everyone around.

"So, still playing golf?" asked a journo.

"Arrey nahi baba, golf chod diya ab. No more golf now. I have to concentrate on my job," quipped paaji as he drove back to the airport to return to Chandigarh.

So a hectic and tiring day was to be wound up with the customary press briefing to be held by the Chandu Borde, chairman of selectors, and honorary secretary Lele.

As they read out the names of the select 14 to play New Zealand in the first Test at Mohali, almost every one waited with baited breath to hear whether deposed skipper Mohammad Azharuddin made it to the select list or not.

As it turned out, his name was conspicuous by its absence from the 14. Thus started a barrage of questions about his exclusion.

Why was he excluded? Who decided against his inclusion? What did the coach and captain have to say about his omission? Which of the selectors was supporting his inclusion?

There was momentary silence in the room as Borde and Lele attempted a straight reply.

"Azhar's name was discussed in the meeting, but we unanimously decided that we need to give someone else a chance," replied Borde.

From there on it went thusly:

So his exclusion has been done with an eye on the future, is it?

"Yes, we want to have a look at the young players and build a team for the future," replied Borde, adding his by-now famous line - "We have an open mind."

Was that the reason for Mongia's axing too?

"We believe that M S K Prasad has been a revelation and that he has given a good account of the chances given to him. We thought that he would be a good player for the future and needs to be given an extended run."

What do you think about Mongia?

"Mongia is a fantastic wicketkeeper and one of the finest in the country. We did not want to break the good run of M S K Prasad and hence Mongia lost out."

Who were the other players who were discussed during the meeting?

"We discussed Jacob Martin, Kanitkar, V.V.S Laxman and Wasim Jaffer. Martin and Kanitkar were discussed for the middle order and Laxman and Jaffer were discussed as the other possible openers. Mohammed Kaif was discussed as well, but we felt that he would be better for the one-dayers.

"Also Tamil Nadu pacer, T Kumaran, H S Sodhi and Reetinder Singh Sodhi were discussed after their impressive performances at the Irani trophy in Bangalore."

So, was Debang Gandhi selected because he was picked earlier for the Asian Test Championship?

"No, the reason for his selection was that the committee felt that he is a quality player and also he has it in him to succeed at the highest level. "

On what basis was Kumble picked? He hasn't performed too well lately?

"Kumble is our strike bowler. He has a wonderful track record, more so at home. He is a great bowler and will prove himself. "

So using the same formula why wasn't Azhar picked for the side? He has a great track record at home.

"Azhar is a great player and he will be considered. We have an open mind on the issue and he will be considered in the near future."

Has Azhar not been picked because of his poor record in Australia? Keeping in mind that the selectors have an eye on the future?

"That is not the reason. Our immediate policy is to see to it that we win the series against New Zealand. The New Zealand team is a confident one and has just returned after defeating the Englishmen on their home soil."

Why was the team picked for a single Test? Doesn't that put such enormous pressure on the players?

"Well, we have seen that giving any government all five years will spoil them. They will become demons; so it makes sense to keep reviewing their performance from time to time and pushing them to do well. We have an eye on the players and will monitor their development from time to time."

Has Ajay Jadeja been picked as an opener?

"No, Ajay will strengthen the middle order. He is not in the squad as an opener."

Which eleven players will play in the Test?

"We will pick the final eleven once we go to Mohali. We need to see the nature of wicket and other conditions."

Isn't it better if the job of picking the playing eleven is left to the coach and captain?

"No. We are a team (the selectors, the coach and the captain). We want to select the team together. We will all have a consensus on the selection and then decide the playing eleven. We have selected the team unanimously and will continue to do so. Thank-you."

Thus ended the briefing.

The team
Sachin Tendulkar (captain)
Sadagopan Ramesh
Debang Gandhi
Ajay Jadeja
Rahul Dravid
Saurav Ganguly
Vijay Bharadwaj
Javagal Srinath
M S K Prasad
Venkatesh Prasad
Debashish Mohanty
Sunil Joshi
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh