Testing times: Can new team erase Eden shame?
10 Dec 2012 8:18 AM IST
Losing six out of the last seven Test matches against England, Indian cricket has finally come to the crossroads from where it must take the correct turn.
As if losing four Tests on tailor made green tops in windy English conditions wasn’t shameful enough, Sunday’s seven-wicket defeat at the Eden Gardens exposed that it doesn’t require a track to win cricket matches. In Mumbai India made a spinning track and lost. Here at Eden, it was a typical batsman-friendly track where we rarely lose. We lost again. So it’s time India stop talking about tracks or pointing finger at curators.
It’s good to see national selectors cracking whip by axing veteran pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and batsman Yuvraj Singh from the squad for the fourth and final Test starting Thursday.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who did not play the last match, also found himself in casualty list as the selectors opted for a leg-spinner in Piyush Chawla and infused young blood by picking Delhi paceman Parvinder Awana and Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Barring Yuvraj and Zaheer’s omissions, there were no major changes to the squad announced by BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the Sandeep Patil-led selection panel.
However, the selection of Piyush Chawla, who made little impact at the domestic scene in recent times, does raise eyebrows. Ashwin and Ojha have kept their places safe, but calling Chawla, who had taken three wickets in the two Tests he played in, doesn’t present a hopeful picture.
As if losing four Tests on tailor made green tops in windy English conditions wasn’t shameful enough, Sunday’s seven-wicket defeat at the Eden Gardens exposed that it doesn’t require a track to win cricket matches. In Mumbai India made a spinning track and lost. Here at Eden, it was a typical batsman-friendly track where we rarely lose. We lost again. So it’s time India stop talking about tracks or pointing finger at curators.
It’s good to see national selectors cracking whip by axing veteran pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and batsman Yuvraj Singh from the squad for the fourth and final Test starting Thursday.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who did not play the last match, also found himself in casualty list as the selectors opted for a leg-spinner in Piyush Chawla and infused young blood by picking Delhi paceman Parvinder Awana and Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Barring Yuvraj and Zaheer’s omissions, there were no major changes to the squad announced by BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the Sandeep Patil-led selection panel.
However, the selection of Piyush Chawla, who made little impact at the domestic scene in recent times, does raise eyebrows. Ashwin and Ojha have kept their places safe, but calling Chawla, who had taken three wickets in the two Tests he played in, doesn’t present a hopeful picture.
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