#360view: India T20 selections defy logic

Ajit Vijaykumar 08:34 20/12/2015
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  • Nehra (2nd l), Yuvrak (l) and Harbhajan (r).

    Most households have certain appliances or furniture that somehow survive the spring cleaning. Year after year, they remain in their place. They might have lost their utility a long time back but are never discarded for some reason or other.

    India’s team for the Australia tour has a few players who are well past their use-by date and should not have been considered for the arduous trip.

    Three names that stick out like a sore thumb are Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra. That they have been selected for the T20s against Australia is even more incredulous as the World T20 will be held in India in March and the forthcoming series, which includes five ODIs and three T20s, is seen as a preparatory tour for the big assignment.

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    Harbhajan is 35 years old, Yuvraj 34 and Nehra 36. The three played a crucial role in helping India lift the 2011 World Cup at home. Four years later, the trio find themselves in the T20 squad with the focus on finalising names for the World T20.

    The presence of all three in a youth-oriented format like T20 defies logic because they have not done anything noteworthy recently, in any format, to warrant a look in, let alone selection.

    Harbhajan has been in and out of the Indian team in the three formats in 2015, failing to make a mark. In his last Test on a helpful track in Sri Lanka, he managed just one wicket while other slow bowlers wreaked havoc. In his last ODI, against South Africa in Mumbai, he went for 70 runs in his 10 overs. In his last T20, his figures were 0-20 but India were defending only 92 and the Proteas took the chase lightly. In that match, Ashwin outbowled him taking 3-24.

    Yuvraj Singh’s last international match for India was the disastrous outing in the 2014 World T20 final against Sri Lanka where he laboured to a 21-ball 11 as the men in blue lost the plot and the match. Yuvraj has fought his way back following a cancer diagnosis but it should have been clear by now that he doesn’t have it in him anymore to keep pace at the top level.

    Nehra’s case is also curious. Even though he had a good IPL season this year, where he snared 22 wickets in 16 games, to reward him with a spot in the team with the World T20 around the corner is taking things too far as he has not represented the country in more than four years.

    Moreover, after the IPL in May, Nehra has played just one match. If any one of the three had been selected, it would have still been fine as the team does need a little bit of experience. But to have all three is luxury India can’t afford.

    It is clear that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has had a say in their selection. Maybe he feels experience will matter in pressure situations and since these three have done it in the past, maybe they can do it in 2016 as well.

    However, Dhoni is forgetting that not only are these players not as effective as they were in 2011, Dhoni himself is beginning to lose his touch and is struggling to finish games.

    And since the three have been picked, it’s logical that they will be given a chance because the management wouldn’t be sending senior players to Australia just to bench them.

    In such a scenario, India will field a T20 side that will have Dhoni, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Nehra. That definitely is not the most energetic or agile T20 side going around. Good luck winning the World T20 with them.

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