Christmas come early

Difficult though it may be, try visualising national selection committee chairman Chandu Borde as Santa Claus. And his four henchmen as elves.

Do that, and the squad of 23 announced Saturday, as the first cut before the final selection for the ICC Knockout Tournament in Kenya, will seem to you like a case of Christmas come early.

Ever since the match-fixing storm went from parlour gossip to police case, the average cricket fan has asked for two things: the exit of tainted players, and the infusion of fresh, young, blood.

In one stroke, both those wishes have now been granted.

The argument 'Innocent until proved guilty' has been trotted out time and again to argue a case for certain players. To my mind, that line misses the point entirely -- what is being discussed is not the issue of crime and punishment, but of the selection of a cricket team.

If there was a proposal to put all tainted players behind bars, then yes, I can understand the 'innocent until proved guilty' theory being bandied about. But when it comes to picking a cricket team to represent this country, surely different criteria need apply?

It is no secret that over the past 12 months, the Indian team has been riven by internal dissension. Nor is it news that such dissension has owed to the presence in the squad of certain players.

What this has done to the team is evident in the results -- a narrow win over New Zealand, disgrace in Australia, the abdication of India's unbeatable-at-home record against South Africa, a scam-tainted victory in the one day series against the Proteas that followed, more disgrace in Sharjah and Dhaka.

Dhaka was our last foray onto a cricket field. The scene then shifted to CBI headquarters -- and what we got was enough controversy to last a lifetime.

In the process, the long-suffering Indian fan finally decided that enough was enough. Falling TRP ratings for live telecasts, falling page views for cricket websites (frankly, the last few months have given us cause to bless the fact that rediff.com is a portal with much more than just the cricket string to its bow), and the emails and phone calls that have come in, have all pointed to one fact -- the Indian fan is no longer prepared to support a team he believes is tainted.

Surely that is enough? Surely, the choice is between persisting with the team as is, and letting the country in for further disgrace, or opting to ring in sweeping changes, risking a few more defeats in the process but paving the way for a brighter future? Surely the fan, whose presence in the stadia and in front of the television screen brings in the sponsors, and the money, deserves to have his wishes respected?

The counter-argument will be that it is all horribly unfair on the players concerned, the ones who now find themselves facing short shrift. And yes, it is, in a sense, unfair.

Till date, there have been inquiries, but no official chargesheet. Therefore, their axing from the squad could seem to be a case of punishment before the crime is proved.

But there is another side to this argument. Did not the players concerned bring this down on themselves, with their behaviour in public and private? They had a responsibility to the game, and to fans of the game. They abdicated that responsibility. What has followed, is hubris.

The selectors -- under prodding by the BCCI, which in turn has come under enormous pressure from the government -- have made their choice. And gone in for a wholesale change, accompanied by a largescale infusion of fresh young blood.

One problem with getting gifts out of season is that one tends to get greedy. To want more. In this case, you could wish that the selectors, having decided to go for youth, had gone the whole hog and left a few more 'senior' players out. But I guess you can't have everything.

It remains to be seen just how many of the young ones will make the final cut. Based on precedent, I suspect the selectors' final list of 14 will read: SC Ganguly, SR Tendulkar, R Dravid, A Kumble, SB Joshi, RR Singh, BKV Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Hemang Badani, Reuben Paul (who could edge the other two untried keepers on the basis of his batting), Mohammad Kaif, Reetinder Sodhi and either Yuvraj Singh, or Zahir Khan.

Which is by no means the ideal selection from the shortlist -- but it is quite likely to be the way the selectors will go. Which gives us a relatively (the presence of a Robin Singh, a Venkatesh Prasad etc prevent it from being absolute) young side.

It will take a while for the team to mesh, for the experienced players and the young ones to strike up an understanding, an inter-dependence. A conditioning camp has been scheduled in Chennai, but team spirit and inter-relationships are forged in the heat of battle, not the cossetted conditions of an India camp.Fortunately for the side, the real test comes early next year, when Australia arrive in these parts. In the interim, there are a couple of one day tournaments and a Test-cum-ODI tour by Zimbabwe -- time enough to complete the shaping process (it also needs bearing in mind that some of the above selections pertain to a one-day side, not to a Test team).

That leaves the issue of coach. For now, the selectors have left it open-ended. But one thing is clear -- Kapil Dev is out.

His asked-for meeting with Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa did not materialise -- which, come to think of it, was a clear enough signal right there. Another pressure bid -- this time, an intimation that if the board terminated his services now (one year into a two-year contract), he would hold them liable to pay for the full two years -- also fell flat, with the board dismissing it out of hand.

There is some talk of a possible meeting between Muthiah and Kapil Dev early next week, but this is merely cosmetic -- the delay being merely to finalise Kapil's successor, among the several contenders who have come forward.

That is expected to happen, and a new coach to be announced by the board president, next week.

At which point, everyone concerned can make a start at putting the last few, eminently forgettable, months behind them, and making a fresh start.

About time, too.

PS: The Rediff email diary, suspended for operational reasons, will resume on Monday. Sorry for the inconvenience, guys. And thanks for bearing with us.

Prem Panicker

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