The Hindu : Sport : Twenty20 probables to be picked today

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Saturday, Jul 07, 2007
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Sport

Twenty20 probables to be picked today

Special Correspondent

Mumbai: The national selectors will assemble at the Cricket Centre, BCCI on Saturday to pick India’s first set of 30 players for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 to be played in South Africa from September 11 to 24.

Six months ago, Dilip Vengsarkar and his committee picked India’s probables for the ICC World Cup in the West Indies. The ‘Colonel’ who has taken some bold decisions will find himself having to make difficult calls again, especially on the senior players including captain Rahul Dravid.

India’s only official Twenty20 international was against South Africa which saw it win by six wickets in a relatively low scoring game, but the selectors are absolutely in the dark about the ability of India’s first class players in this format.

The BCCI’s first Twenty20 event staged in Gujarat and Mumbai in April turned out to be a bit of a flop with the crowds mostly staying away.

Lacklustre event

Tamil Nadu played the BCCI’s inaugural event efficiently and with a bit of luck prevailed over Punjab in a lacklustre final at the Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma’s century was a highlight of the tournament.

The BCCI has not found a slot for the national Twenty20 event for the 2007-08 season. The Chairman of the BCCI’s Technical Committee Sunil Gavaskar said last year that no international team can afford to overlook Twenty20 because the 120-ball games would help in the survival of the 300-ball games.

Vengsarkar and his colleagues do not have a large basket to look at — akin to a situation they were in Rajkot last year when they picked the probables for the ODI World Cup.

However, in order to meet an ICC stipulation, the selectors would ultimately manage to name 30 players, a pool that will have a mix of the familiar and some fresh faces like Baroda’s Yusuf Pathan who made an impression in the BCCI’s event held in April.

Straightforward choice

Discarded for the tour of Ireland, Scotland and for the Test series in England, Sehwag — who was the captain when India beat South Africa — will be a straightforward choice.

A selector said that Vengsarkar may ascertain from Dravid his availability for the Twenty20 World Championship.

“There’s strategy and tactics involved in a Twenty20 game too, so we cannot disregard this crucial part of cricket,” said the selector.

Sachin Tendulkar has played five Twenty20 matches and Ganguly has played 18 matches — majority of them for county teams in the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

The selection committee will also choose an India ‘A’ team for the tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.

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