Top-ranked India's Test selection is far from gold standard

Ajit Vijaykumar 09:00 15/12/2018
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  • The Indian Test team has a lot of things going for it. They are lead by Virat Kohli who genuinely cares about succeeding in the Test format. They have batsmen who have the technique and the temperament to succeed in different conditions. Their fitness standards are good. And the bowling attack is arguably the best in their history.

    But as good as the team is, the Indians consistently fail in one department and that has cost them dear on many occasions – team selection.

    Assessing the conditions and picking the right playing XI is an art, albeit not that difficult. But the Indian management has made three flabbergasting selections this year alone.

    At the beginning of the year, Kohli and Co dropped seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the second Test against South Africa in Centurion despite the player picking up six wickets and scoring 38 runs in a low-scoring game in the opener.

    Then in the Lord’s Test in England, left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was selected despite the pitch being damp and under covers for a day. India lost that Test by an innings as Kuldeep bowled just nine overs.

    That tendency to make strange selections reared its head again in ongoing Perth Test against Australia.

    India had to make two changes to the winning team from the Adelaide Test following injuries to Ravi Ashwin and Rohit Sharma. Middle order bat Hanuma Vihari was a straight swap for Rohit but their decision to go with the still erratic Umesh Yadav instead of the reliable all-round skills of spinner Ravindra Jadeja or the swing of Bhuvneshwar raised a few eyebrows.

    Jadeja could have done what Ashwin managed in the first Test – tie one end up, pick up a few wickets and score handy runs. But what they got was Umesh’s expensive bowling on a wicket tailormade for fast bowling.

    Bhuvneshwar could have been lethal on the Perth pitch that offered huge variations in bounce and is also a fine batsman in his own right. But India went for the unreliable bowling of Umesh, which coupled with the part-time spin on Vihari, put tremendous pressure on the rest of the attack.

    Whether or not India win the Perth Test – which seems unlikely given the state of the pitch and Australia’s daunting total – the fact is India’s selection policy leaves a lot to be desired.

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