With India still in with a chance of levelling the series, the think-tank have to decide how to rest key players without compromising on their victory chances
Anand Vasu12-Oct-2007
Virender Sehwag was expected to find a place in the Indian squad at some point during the series against Australia, but that hasn’t happened © AFP
When the Indian team for the first three ODIs of this seven-matchseries was named, the one big name missing was Virender Sehwag. WithHarbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan returning to the team on the basis ofperformances in the ICC World Twenty20, it was widely assumed – and theselectors speaking privately did nothing to dispel the notion – that therewas no reason for Sehwag to worry and that in the course of the one-dayseason he’d get a look in. As of now, though, there’s still no place forhim.”This is the best batting line-up we’ve got. Sachin, Sourav, followed byRahul, then Yuvi, myself and Robin,” said Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indiancaptain, at the end of the fifth match, when asked about why the line-upwas changed around. “It just didn’t work today. We didn’t get thepartnerships we wanted early on.” Obviously he was referring to theline-up he had on his hands, and not whether Sehwag figured in the plans, but it’s interesting that the talk over Sehwag has died down almost completely as the series has progressed.What’s more, with India still in with a chance of levelling the series3-3, although that’s unlikely given just how hard the Australians haveplayed each of these games, it makes it extremely difficult for the teamto think about resting one of its senior batsmen. The results, however, donot change the fact that India have a large volume of cricket – both ODIand Test – in the coming year. In fact this was the rationale behind theselectors and the team management contemplating a rotation policy in thefirst place. In the 12 ODIs India would play against Australia andPakistan, it was believed that each of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly wouldsit out at least one match.With Dravid struggling for runs, and he’s hardly been at the crease enoughto judge what kind of form he is in, the selectors have a tough decisionon their hands. In different circumstances, with the series decided oneway or the other by the time game six came around, Dravid would have beenrested. But now, with only 44 runs from five matches, there’s hardly acase to rest him, and dropping him in the first series after he steppeddown as captain would be cruel to someone who has served the team’s causeexceedingly well in both forms of the game for several years now.If India win the next game then the temptation to rest someone willrecede further as the seventh match will provide an opportunity to level aseries that once looked gone for all money. If Indialose, then again it will be hard to consider someone like S Badrinath inplace of one of the senior batsmen, for a solitary win from seven gameswould hardly be acceptable returns for Dhoni in his first series ascaptain. However, the temptation to play Badrinath will be strong, forDhoni will remember how Rohit Sharma could barely get a knock in England,and delivered so brilliantly when drafted in the ICC World Twenty20.Robin Uthappa’s case was no different, with him sitting out the best partof the one-day series in England, only to turn matchwinner at the firstopportunity he was afforded. In short, it’s a tricky conundrum, and onethat Dhoni will have to deal with delicately and sensibly.Australia, for their part, have their own selection dilemmas, buttypically have their own way of dealing with these things. Brad Haddinmight have scored 156 from his two innings, scoring half-centuries ineach, but when the time for Ricky Ponting’s return from injury came along,he was left out, with Brad Hodge, the more senior batsman, retaining hisplace in the team despite a string of poor scores. Few teams other thanAustralia would have chosen this path, and on top of this they’ve evensent Adam Voges, who was in the squad as cover for Ponting, back home.Already, he’s in action, playing domestic cricket for the WesternWarriors.