Former chief selector Kiran More and former national selector Ashok Malhotra give their take on whether Rahul Dravid should be included in the one-day squad.
He will add further depth
Rahul Dravid should be included in the One-day International team because he will always be an asset and one can depend on him in any situation. He is a team man and even understanding that it may be difficult to accommodate him in a settled team, one should pick him for sheer class and consistency.
In fact, he should never have been out of the scheme of things. And once, he was out, he should not have been brought back, only to be shunted out again. This is not the kind of treatment a player of his stature should be getting. There has to be consistency in selection policies and he could certainly do with more respect.
I would say there is depth in the Indian ODI team, but Rahul only adds further depth to it. I don’t see him not being able to pull his weight. There are always bound to be situations when you need a solid batsman like him. There are places like South Africa where the team members will know they have a man they can depend on.
Even if we are planning for the World Cup to be held in the sub-continent in 2011, there is no harm in not ruling him out. The pitches here won’t trouble him for sure! The beauty of his batting is that he is not bothered by any kind of conditions and just in case some pitch is difficult to bat on, you can count on him.
Dravid is also a good slip fielder. May be you can not depend on him when it comes to saving singles too, but then that is not a strong point of the current team, is it?
In fact, most members of the present one-day team are not good fielders. Players like Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan are certainly not the ones you can depend on to cut off runs and even seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, who have been superb fielders, can not be expected to continue that same way.
— Kiran More
He is a misfit in this side
I am not in favour of Rahul Dravid being considered for one-dayers because I think that adds to the problems rather than solving any.
There is no doubt that he has been a great asset to the side, one of the most dependable batsmen we ever had. His batting has been wonderful over the years and we have all enjoyed watching him in action. In fact, he has been nothing less than a legend.
However, he is a misfit in the current scenario of one-day cricket, where the scoring rate has changed substantially in the past few years. Though his technique is immaculate, I don’t see him matching the pace of younger batsmen.
This is not an era where you can score at four or five runs an over. Teams are chasing huge totals with ease and you have to opt for batsmen who are capable of scoring at a much brisker rate. That is not something he may be able to do with ease, even though he has been in tremendous touch lately. Especially keeping the 2011 World Cup in mind, we have to opt for players who will be able to bat on easy pitches since this event will be held in the sub-continent. What we need nowadays are ‘flat track bullies’ who can make the most of situations which favour them. Batsmen are expected to rip apart the bowling once settled in the middle.
Moreover, if you have men like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the top three, where do you fit in Rahul?He can only bat at number three. He is not one who will win you matches at number six and when you have better options for that kind of a slot, it is not easy slipping him in.
Keeping Rahul in the squad and not playing him will be worse. His stature is such that restricting him to the bench will not be fair to him. That is why, according to me, he should not figure in the scheme of things. Actually, I don’t think he figures in the plans of selectors either.
— Ashok Malhotra
Comments