DEBATE ON INDIAN TEST TEAM

To win everything, you first need a good team and then a good captain. Aussies ruled the roost for a long time because they had both of them. Importantly, for aussies, good captain and good team are complementary. Its like- “good player makes a good captain and the good captain plays good players”. In India’s case, the test captains and players of few decades; sachin, dravid, gangly and kumble have probably played most drawn test matches than any other players during this period. So we can comfortably say- “These are not good captains.” But, even a mediocre captain would find it difficult not to win so many matches if he had a good team. “Not a good captain and not a good team.”

Can India arrive at good captain-good players complementing each other? Can Dhoni be the good captain who plays good players? The answer, I am afraid, is “No”! So what’s wrong with Dhoni; after all his team has won T20 WC and the Down Under Tri series? Did he play the best players? Yusuf Pathan literally warmed the benches throughout T20 WC. But, few months later and in the next big T20 (IPL), Yusuf was one of the hot contenders of Most Valuable Player. How Shane Warne could find the player in him? Dhoni didn’t play shewag in finals of Down Under Tri series. Many would ask, “So what.. Dhoni’s team won T20 WC and tri series even without these good players and doesn’t it reflect his credentials?” To me, a captain who does not field best players and manages to win would still be a mediocre captain and his team is going nowhere.

We have a tradition in Indian cricket. We easily compliment orthodox players and easily lament unorthodox players. Kapil despite his 175 in WC and despite his 6,6,6,6 against hemmings when 24 were needed to avoid follow on, never played as a specialist batsman. But Shastri did play as one. We easily sing praises on techniques of dravids and gangulys. We lament shewags and yuvrajs for lack of footwork. But, what is technique that can’t fetch you a boundary? What is technique that can’t let you score runs on onside?

Its time we have a broad vision! The vision that aussies display. Orthodox or unorthodox, its runs and effect that these runs produce determine who plays for Australia. Clark, symonds, Hussey, Jaques would hardly come under ambit of orthodox batsmen but they are played by Ricky Ponting for the runs and the effect that they make. India’s recent performances in test matches are better; they have fewer drawn matches and some good wins overseas. Players like shewag, gambhir, ishant sharma, RP singh have played vital parts in most of them. Can we give them support by playing more players whose runs have good effect? My test team would be:-

Shewag (Vice Captain), Gambhir, Rohit sharma, Yuvraj (Captain), Yusuf Pathan/ Suresh Raina/ Virat Kohli, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, RP Singh (12th man)