A cursory look at India's World Cup squad will tell you that the selectors have got most picks right. As many as 13 of the 15 players are automatic choices.
The squad comprises five batsmen, two wicketkeeper-batsmen, three all-rounders (two left-arm spinners and one medium pacer), four seamers and one specialist spinner.
But can chief selector Sandeep Patil, his colleagues or anyone in the all-powerful BCCI set-up, explain the exclusion of opener Murali Vijay?
For starters, let's make all the allowances. In Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, the squad has three specialist, talented and proven openers. What's more, the 30-year-old Vijay is a Test specialist. The Chennai lad has played a grand total of 14 ODIs between February 2010 and July 2013. His record in the 50-over game is nothing to write home about: 253 runs at less than 20 per innings. But that's when you are reminded of what Greg Chappell said after picking a woefully out-of-form Michael Hussey for the home Tests against India in 2011. "If selecting was that easy, it could be left to the statisticians," Chappell, then a member of the selection panel, said in his inimitable style.
Ever since India set foot in Australia in mid-November, only Virat Kohli, Vijay and Rahane — in that order — have looked the part in the Test series. Kohli has tallied 499 runs in six innings, Vijay 402 and Rahane 348. The rest have just turned up. And voila, the World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand.
Quite clearly, Vijay has looked the most assured of the lot. For starters, he has faced a whopping 737 deliveries. That's 122.5 overs. And the best part is that left a large majority of these balls alone. Now that is one trait a batsman must possess even in ODI cricket, especially when you are playing on hard, bouncy and true wickets that facilitate a contest between bat and ball.
If this was 2011, and the World Cup a subcontinental affair, then nobody would have wept for Vijay. But that's not the case. Both Dhawan and Sharma, India's regular openers in blue clothing, have come a cropper in this series.
Vijay would have lent the team something the above-mentioned players have only flattered to — solidity. Make no mistake, they are delightful run-makers. However flat the pitches turn out to be, 350-plus scores won't be the norm, not at least when the top sides lock horns. That kind of pointless run-scoring happens only in India where the boundary line is just 60 yards away. In Australia — and to a big extent in New Zealand — a 275-run total will be defendable. In India these days, even 360 isn't enough.
The selectors have clearly missed a trick by ignoring Vijay. Dhawan or Rahane could partner him at the top with Sharma, one of the best hitters in world cricket, dropping down a couple of slots.
There's not much the selectors could have done about the bowling department. The hard truth is that these are the best we have. What India obviously lack is a world-class seamer or spinner. Over the years, we've had Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. This time, we will have to make do with Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and the rest. Only time will tell if India can make do without a stalwart bowler.
SQUAD
MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Virat Kohli (Vice-Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu (Wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny
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