Going around in circles

There is only one truth about Indian cricket. It is a 360 degree roller-coaster ride. There is no other way to look at it. Consistency is a concept alien to our players and administrators, applicable only so far as their string of inconsistencies are concerned. How else do you explain the events of the last 40 days? Nightmarish would be the appropriate word, a distant emotion from the frenzy surrounding the IPL nights.

Take Suresh Raina for example. The toast of IPL-3 for the Chennai Super Kings. A first T20 century in India’s second outing against a good South African bowling outfit in the ICC World Twenty20 played in the West Indies. What happens in the Zimbabwe tri-series? 83 runs from 4 innings, with a highest score of 37. Perhaps captaincy got the better of his talent. That or the more sobering thought, that after a series of failures in handling the short ball, 94 ODI games and nearly five years since making his debut, Raina is still not quite the real deal. Rohit Sharma’s twin centuries in the tri-series also provide no reason to celebrate, for Sharma’s talent go hand-in-hand with his uncanny ability to frustrate fans at the most opportune moment.

Or take that other enigma of Indian cricket, Yuvraj Singh. With less than nine months to go for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Yuvraj finds no place in the squad for the Asia Cup that begins on the 15th of this month. This for a man who has arguably been India’s biggest ODI match winner since Sachin Tendulkar made his debut, Sourav Ganguly notwithstanding. At 28 and with an ODI career nearly spanning a decade, Yuvraj has failed to make the transition to elder statesman, with his indiscretions off the field sure to sully his reputation as a batsman for life, should he fail to make a comeback.

The selectors too have contributed to the present state of muddle. The logic that has dictated some of their recent selections has bordered on the perverse. So Piyush Chawla plays only two games in the ICC World Twenty20 (Economy Rate – 7.85) in the West Indies. Then Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin are announced as the new spin options for the tour to Zimbabwe. Harbhajan Singh returning to the squad for the Asia Cup would have meant that both Mishra and Ojha are persisted with, since their economy rates at 4.93 and 4.06 were better than Ashwin’s (5.00) in the tri-series. Instead, Ashwin shall partner Harbhajan and Ojha for the forthcoming tournament and Mishra, India’s second best Test spinning option, finds himself cooling his heels. With India scheduled to play three Tests and a tri-series in Sri Lanka beginning July, what good can Mishra do to bring himself back in the reckoning for those matches, since there is no domestic cricket to be played between now and then. Perhaps, if we listen hard enough, we can hear the melody playing in the background for a game of musical chairs.

The biggest onus for some serious corrective action though lies with the BCCI. Firstly, the IPL cannot be the basis of representing India in international tournaments, for our cricketers, as the ICC World Twenty20 showed, are not ready to make the transition. Murali Vijay is conclusive proof of this argument. Secondly, the IPL, with the addition of two new franchises, is in need of some serious readjustment which translates to shorter and less hectic. Sunil Gavaskar’s argument that there were no parties in the Caribbean, then why did the team not do well, has as much ring to it as a rose petal hitting a steel vessel.

With India playing non-stop cricket over the next 60 days (Asia Cup, 3 Tests against Sri Lanka and tri-series in Sri Lanka), it remains to be seen whether we continue to move in circles or march ahead with an eye on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.