High time Yuvraj got his due in Tests

Over the next few days, new Test skipper Anil Kumble will be stroking his square jaw in serious strategizing — if he is not already spending sleepless nights.

He is confronted with his first dilemma much before the first ball is bowled in the three-match series against Pakistan which begins next Thursday. Can he afford to keep the world’s best player in limited overs cricket out of the five-day game?

Over the past four months, I believe, Yuvraj Singh has upstaged the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Matt Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Herschelle Gibbs, Chris Gayle, Jacque Kallis, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and even Adam Gilchrist with his sensational batting.

This is how he compares with these leading lights (in terms of runs scored, average, strike rate)

He was the key figure in India’s Twenty20 World Championship triumph, and the brilliant form has spilled over into the ODIs against Australia and Pakistan.

He may not have scored the most runs in this period as those mentioned (as the table above reveals), but it is his daring strokeplay and strong finishing which marks Yuvraj out as exceptional.

Add to this his outstanding fielding and useful left-arm spin and you have a multi-faceted match-winner. But is he good enough, Kumble will be asking himself (and a few others surely), to break into the Indian Test team which has Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman at numbers 5 and 6?

Problem for Kumble, of course, is that the answer to such dilemmas is not clear-cut. There are arguments that work both ways, the most potent being that a great one-day player need not necessarily be a great Test player.

For instance Michael Bevan, widely regarded as the best ODI player of his time, struggled to make it to the Tests, and Australia were none the worse for this.

He was perceived to be suspect against genuine pace — just as Yuvraj is thought to be vulnerable to spin — and other players were preferred.

However, two other splendid Aussie batsmen — Adam Gilchrist and Mike Hussey — provide the counter argument. Both used their prowess in the one-day game to earn their stature, and have since gone on to become outstanding Test batsmen too.

Gilchrist is arguably the best cricketer of his generation, never mind if Shane Warne did not even include him in the top 10 in his recent list. Hussey, who has been in Bradmensque run-getting flow, could well be the next.

Kumble’s decision will have to be made on hard-boiled assessment. He has, by all accounts, been given a short lease as captain, which can be extended if he produces results.

How much can Yuvraj contribute to his cause is the question.

I believe he is batting at his peak and brings a degree of dynamism which the team could do with. But I am not ready to dismiss the class and experience of Ganguly and Laxman so easily either.

Kumble’s dilemma, alas, must be his own. I wish him well.