The time to groom another opener is now
Sankhya Krishnan - 14 June 2001
The troublesome opening position is once more throwing up a few tantrums on
the eve of the second Test at Harare. Sadagoppan Ramesh's position has been
upset due to a string of ordinary performances and a back ailment which has
cropped up with an uncanny sense of timing. A fit Ramesh would indubitably
have been India's best candidate for the job. It is a little surprising
that an opening stand of 71 in the Indian run chase at Bulawayo does not
get sufficient consideration in the argument over Ramesh's Test place. The
bottomline is the partnership and not the individual scores of the two
batsmen and indeed there have been few numerically superior opening stands
by Indian pairs on tour in the last few years.
To get to the last century opening stand in an away Test, one has to go
back to Hamilton in 1993/94 when Sidhu and Mongia notched up 102. The
effort by Messrs. Ramesh and Das does not compare unfavourably although
they had a fortuitous break when Das was given not out on nought after
gloving a catch down the leg side off Brighton Watambwa. Zimbabwe's bowling
was badly defanged but an early wicket would have still caused a flutter in
the Indian camp, given the devils from the past over chasing low fourth innings
scores. In the end, Ramesh's back problem kept him out of contention,
foisting another interim arrangement, something which
the team seems to delight in. Hemang Badani is the latest appointee and good
luck to him.
There is a causal relationship between the success of the opening pair and
success of the team; in the last 15 years, India has lost only one Test in
which there has been a century stand for the first wicket. Opening is a
specialist job, yet the refusal to recognise that reality cannot be
encouraging. The stark indifference is best symbolised by the lack of
effort to groom another candidate who can step into the breach in case
injury or poor form renders either of the present incumbents a non-starter.
It cannot be true that Ramesh and Das are so far ahead of the competition.
Akash Chopra, Gagan Khoda, Satyajit Parab and Jai P Yadav all had
successful domestic seasons. Also waiting in the wings is 19-year-old
Vinayak Ramesh Mane whose uncanny resemblance to another Mumbaikar whose
middle name he shares is fast making him the hottest contender for the position.
But a third opener was conspicuously absent from the preparatory camp in
Bangalore before the Zimbabwe tour. The reason trotted out that Ramesh and
Das were expected to play both Tests in Zimbabwe was ludicrous to say the
least. The presence of Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid at Nos. 3-6
did not after all prevent the selectors from naming a flotilla of middle
order batsmen amongst the probables.
It hardly mattered if the places in the touring party were booked; the
opportunity was there to expose a youngster to the methods of the new coach
and to just imbibe the whole experience of being in the company of the
national team and it went abegging. Nor was the oversight a one-off. No
third opener was selected for the gruelling camp in Chennai before the
Australian tour in February either, a fact that chairman of selectors
Chandu Borde was actually unaware of. It beggars belief but Borde blithely
proclaimed at an impromptu press conference that the camp had a reserve
opener. Of course he was unable to name the gentleman in question.
© CricInfo
Teams
|
India,
Zimbabwe.
|
Players/Umpires
|
Sadagoppan Ramesh,
Navjot Sidhu,
Nayan Mongia,
Brighton Watambwa,
Akash Chopra,
Gagan Khoda,
Satyajit Parab,
Vinayak Mane,
VVS Laxman,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Sourav Ganguly,
Rahul Dravid.
|
Tours
|
India in Zimbabwe
|