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The Rediff Cricket Interview/ Syed Kirmani

'You can just walk into the Indian eleven with one good performance, or two'

Are you trying to rectify these communication gaps at least at the state level in Karnataka, since you head the state selection committee?

There are bound to be differences of opinion in any family, and that holds good for my selection committee too. But one has to come to some understanding on everything. Everyone cannot be accommodated on the team. The same adjustment or thinking should exist at the national level. There are times when you feel someone should be playing, but the chairman believes someone else should. At the bottom, there should be some like-mindedness, and the majority should always rule, whether it is right or wrong.

Every captain or coach would like his team to win. But this game is full of glorious uncertainties. My fellow selector might not have been a Test player, but his opinion might still be better than mine, as committee president. It is of course a chairman's prerogative to overlook someone's opinion, but that does not mean one is looking down on that person's judgement. The communication should be so good that everyone involved understands all this.

Look at the match in progress now, for example. We thought this would be a good opportunity for youngsters, whom we had chosen carefully. Unfortunately, they have not lived up to our expectations. A majority of the selectors wanted a particular experienced player, who was not in good form at all. Only one other fellow selector possibly agreed with me when I said ki bhai, let's have more number of experienced players on the team. When I say experienced, I also mean that the chosen players should be performing well. I would never select a player who was experienced without performance, who was not delivering the goods.

In this current state team, the national stars wanted a rest after the Australian tour. And we played an experienced man. This is where we slipped up. The experienced player chosen did not live up to expectations. There is so much lack of application, lack of approach. I had a pep talk with these youngsters, and told them this is a golden opportunity for you guys to play at the higher levels of the game, because you can just walk into the Indian eleven with one good performance, or two -- that unfortunately is the nature of selection for the national team at the moment.

The whole system must be reassessed now. We must think seriously about how we are going to select teams. We must have a proper policy on this, do some rethinking on the entire process.

For most of the '90s, there was mostly only Nayan Mongia who was keeping wicket, apart from occasional patches of Vijay Yadav or Saba Karim. What qualities do you see in Mongia that kept him in that position for so long?

I would like to say quite openly, with due respect to my wicket-keeping friends who have been playing for the country, that there was just about 19 to 20 difference between Yadav, Karim and Mongia. I suppose that with more experience, Mongia was preferred, although he was not as consistent as one should have expected him to be. But obviously, if you are on the team for a long time, either performing or non-performing, one has to accept that he is an experienced player.

Every wicket-keeper has his own plus and minus points. A player is selected for a team purely on merit and performance. Obviously, Mongia was preferred for a longer time. They could have given a break to others like Yadav or Karim in between, but they hardly did. Now, M S K Prasad was also inducted into the team and taken to Australia.

I don't know what exactly transpired, but it was unfair for anyone to have been called over and then sent back.. And the man who was performing well to be sent back also, that was not fair. The injury that existed could have been looked into in a better manner. Instead, they both came back.

There have been as many as five wicket keepers being used on the Indian team over the past year or so : Mongia, Karim, Dravid, Prasad and now Dighe. Why this sudden rise in the number of wicket-keepers? Is there more talent mushrooming suddenly?

Again, it is all boiling down to the fact that there is a lot of experimentation in progress, which should not be happening. If we have picked up a wicket-keeper, we should let him continue for a while. Prasad was picked for the Sri Lankan tour, while Mongia was nursing his injury. Instead of Prasad, they could have tried Karim, who is still in the frame as an experienced wicket-keeper. He was not given a fair chance ever, according to me. He was taken on a West Indies tour, and simply forgotten about when he returned.

The man was playing for West Bengal, performing well, there was consistence in his batting more than on his wicket-keeping. As I said earlier, there is really just 19 to 20 differences between all the wicket-keepers around now. Why did they not just try Karim on the Sri Lankan tour, where he would have gained a lot of experience, and then continued him to Australia, while Mongia was nursing his injury?

But they wanted to bring in a new crop with Prasad, and when he did not live up to expectations straightaway on the Sri Lankan tour, they rested him and played Dravid! This was a very insulting thing to do to a man who has picked specifically as wicket-keeper.

Then, Prasad was again carried to Australia. They could have got back Mongia, when he was fit, or tried Karim again. You must have two regular wicket-keepers on an overseas tour that was lasting two months! You cannot just say, Oh, Rahul Dravid can keep -- you are taking a big risk. A specialist batsman of Dravid's calibre cannot be risked as a standby wicket-keeper. Then they felt the need of a regular wicket-keeper, flew in Mongia when Prasad had a small injury, then flew Mongia back again when Prasad recovered very quickly -- I could not understand this whole scenario at all!

As India's most successful wicket-keeper to date, can you share with us the key to good 'keeping?

A natural wicket-keeper has to be first spotted. Then, you must groom him properly. I am sure there are plenty of good wicket-keepers in the age groups of 14, 16 or 19. I have written to the BCCI asking them to give me the opportunity to pick up the right wicket-keeping talent in the country. The Board conducts a camp every summer, particularly for the age group of 16 and 19 years, together. Most of the time, this camp is held in Bangalore. I would like to spot, from this year's camp, some national wicket-keepers who can do a better job for India than I ever did.

Can you name the best 'keepers in the country today?

At the top would be Nayan Mongia, because of his experience. Then, Saba Karim. Third M S K Prasad. On the way up, you have Tilak Naidu and Somashekar Siriguppi. And I have already told you about my appreciation of Dravid's technique. I was very impressed with some of Naidu's performances, but unfortunately, he lacks consistency and the right temperament, as of now.

You have to perform consistently, if you are to be a good wicket-keeper. There is no such thing as having mood swings, or playing well sometimes, and being complacent at others. Sadly, I feel a measure of complacency crept into Naidu's performances, after his initial creditable showing.

This complacence is a common problem afflicting the present new, young breed of players who are coming up now. Even before they have any achievements under their belts, they want to put their collars up, sports sunglasses on their caps, and generally strut around on the field. This kind of behaviour will only instantly alienate spectators, who say ki bhai, what has this man achieved to adopt all this style.

I can understand Kapil Dev putting his collar up, as he is the world's greatest wicket-taker. Similarly, Sunil Gavaskar: that man could really move. But why these young boys, who have done nothing great yet? Why not try to match the performances of those great men instead of just aping their mannerisms?

Wearing glasses on your cap, for example, can be most distracting. I have seen Dominic Cork drop a catch at a World Cup because of that. There was this really high catch coming his way, and I could just see it working on his mind that if he looked up or jumped to catch it, his sunglasses might drop off and get trodden underfoot. Finally, he did take the catch, but dropped it, and his glasses simultaneously fell off! I have now advised the coach of the Karnataka team that none of them should go on to the field wearing sunglasses on their caps, since they certainly don't need them for the game.

Like I said, it all boils down to good grooming, which players today lack. I hope these basic problems are set right soon, and that we will be able to turn out capable and performing Indian cricket teams with good wicket-keepers.

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