Is India blooding enough youngsters?

THE SELECTORS may be patting themselves on the back for discovering Zaheer Khan, Yuveraj Singh and Shiv Sundar Das, but this should just be the beginning of forming a pool for the future.

In picking these players, who may not necessarily have plundered sides in domestic cricket, the selection committee has deviated from the past, when only big individual scores and relentless bowling on bland Indian turfs mattered.

There are lessons to be learnt from the successes of these young players. First, that it is important to see the kind of strokes a batsman plays and the variety a bowler has, and secondly the opposition and the wickets.

Let us face some facts. The big individual scores on glass-top pitches in India come mostly because of restricting shots, and wickets are often got waiting for the batsman to commit a mistake. Where is the initiative in either case?

A Devang Gandhi may get a triple century as an opener, but he is found wanting at the highest level simply because he has been more used to driving the ball, which he is unable to do at the international level.

On the other hand, a Shiv Sundar Das may not have as many big scores to show, but he succeeds because he has played vicious cuts and attractive pulls and hooks mostly. At the highest level, one has to be a complete batsman, or at least one who can make up for one shortcoming with another.

If the planning for the next World Cup in 2002, in which South Africa is the main host, is truly on the minds of the selectors, as it should be, they have to pick players who can be expected to do well there. And India certainly needs more options.

We cannot sit back hoping Zaheer and Yuveraj will continue doing well and deliver when the event beckons. In today's cricket, two seasons is a long time, and one never knows when form or fitness will desert a player.

As it is, the pitches in South Africa demand more positive play. The bouncier pitches mean the batsmen have to play more shots, most importantly the cuts and pulls, and the bowlers have to use the conditions to maximum advantage. We should be looking for more such positive players, those who would add depth to the team.

We need players who can play positively and be useful with both bat and ball. Not necessarily scoring centuries, but coming up with cameo knocks that can help the team as much.

The South African pitches are nearest to those in Australia, and therein lie some points to infer from. In the 1992 World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, there were only two above-300 team scores and another eight above 250 scores. In contrast to that, in the India-Pakistan World Cup in 1996, there were as many as five above 300 totals (with a highest of 398 for five) and another 13 above-250 scores.

Eight centuries were scored in the event `down under', whereas the figures doubled four years later. Unlike in the sub- continent, more contributions will be needed and it will be important that teams play the full overs in South Africa, with the lower-order also contributing.

It was seen in Australia that on an average there were three or four useful batting efforts in any team's win, and the scene should be much the same in the next World Cup. Are we preparing on those lines? Have we spotted enough stroke-players and all- rounders?

Reetinder Sodhi, who played a fine knock recently for Punjab against Delhi on a fiery turf, has made it to the Indian team for his grit and for being a trier. This season would show whether he will add some balance to the Indian side.

If others like Hemang Badani and Shiv Sundar Das (who could be considered as an opener in the next World Cup) continue to do well, we have some good options in the upper half of the batting order. But we still need more match winners-some aggressive players, some all-rounders.

The National Cricket Academy (NCA) may well play a big role in moulding a team for the future. Professionalism suddenly seems to be the buzzword and with former cricketers showing their concern for the game, we could have any number of minds working towards a revival of fortunes.

C. RAJSHEKHAR RAO

New Delhi

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