ChinmayC Blog: India cricket captain

The Chairman of the BCCI Selection Committee, Chetan Sharma, has today announced the India squads for the upcoming Test and T20I Series against the visiting Sri Lanka, naming Rohit Sharma as the Test Captain with Jasprit Bumrah as his deputy. The out-of-from batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been dropped along with the experienced pacer Ishant Sharma and reserve wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha—the last being dropped on account of his age (37) as he did not figure in any of the matches in the South Africa tour. This announcement is on the expected lines. Chetan Sharma said that Rohit has emerged as the unanimous choice for Test captaincy while future captain materials like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Bumrah are to be groomed under the leadership of Rohit which we speculated about in one of our earlier posts.

If it was an apologetic gesture or not the Chairman said further that Pujara and Rahane have to be left out to make room for a new-generation Team India, adding that the doors are still open for the experienced duo as this selection is only for the two test matches against Sri Lanka. The chances for their possible comeback look bleak though considering the new blood being injected in terms of opener Priyank Panchal, top order batsman Shreyas Iyer and middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari. It is indeed sad to see Rahane, only 33, and Pujara, 34, go, as they have been an integral part of the India Test team, particularly Rahane who crafted a glorious away Test series victory over Australia only last year as the stand-in captain. Both of them are currently playing the Ranji Trophy matches; in the IPL-2022 Rahane finds a franchise while Pujara has remained unsold.

Ravindra Jadeja who missed out on the South Africa tour and the West Indies matches due to injury has come back in both the squads as well as Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill. Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav who had been largely ignored by the Kohli-Shastri combine also finds a place along with spinner Sourabh Kumar who has played in the World Cup winning India Under-19 team recently. KS Bharat has been included as the reserve wicket-keeper replacing Saha. Ravichandran Ashwin is selected subject to his fitness. While KL Rahul and Washington Sunder have been ruled out due to fitness issues Shardul Thakur is rested.

In the T20I squad rookie opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson are selected and bowlers Deepak Hooda, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi have been retained from the team playing against the West Indies. Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant are granted rest from the bio-bubble for the final ODI against the West Indies and the three T20I matches against Sri Lanka. Experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is retained in the T20I squad only. The Chief Selector has also asserted that the play-n-rest policy would continue in future too for the overall fitness of the players.

If there were any doubts in the minds of the selectors about Rohit Sharma those have been put to rest by his victories over the visiting West Indies in both the ODI Series (3-0) and in the T20I Series (leading 2-0) apart from his winning record as India’s stand-in captain on various occasions. At least till the World Cup-2023 he seems to be the logical choice for India captain in all the formats.

The final ODI is to be played against West Indies in Kolkata tomorrow and their batsmen must deliver at least a saving grace by registering their first win. Defeat of the once-mighty West Indies in the second ODI yesterday is really pathetic as they failed to win with 7 wickets remaining and after restricting India to 186. No doubt, the target was challenging and the Indian bowlers have indeed put their hard efforts under an attentive Rohit, but the consistent failures of the WI batsmen must be questioned. With the WI spinners bowling very well on the Indian slow tracks the visitors had a great chance to upset the hosts in their own grounds.

The Sri Lanka Tour of India starts on the 24^th February with the first of the 3 T20I matches in Lucknow, and the two other matches to take place at Dharamsala on 26^thand 27^th respectively. The First Test starts from 4^th march in Mohali and the second and the final Test to take place in Bengaluru during 12-16^th March. The T20Is will start from 7 PM Indian time. The first Test match starts from 9,30 AM on all days while the second Test will be a day-n-night affair in Bengaluru starting from 12.30 PM all five days.

Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat, R Ashwin (fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar.

T20I Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, arguably India’s greatest cricket captain who led India during 1961-75, passed away this evening in a New Delhi hospital after a prolonged and incurable lung disease. He was 70.

Just before he made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 1961 Pataudi met with a car accident and lost vision completely in his right eye. But with great determination and courage he went ahead and played for India till 1975 making 6 centuries and 16 half centuries. After playing only four cricket tests he was made India’s skipper in 1962 at the young age of 21. Though under him India won only 9 out of 46 tests he led India to the first ever series win abroad when India beat New Zealand 3-1 in 1967. Pataudi was known for bold leadership qualities, agility in the field, powerful batting display, all-round abilities and of course, very good looks and posture. He was properly nicknamed ‘Tiger’ by the India cricket fraternity.

Nostalgic memories are rushing to my mind. We never saw him play cricket as television was not even heard of in our region. As little children crazy for cricket we got glued to radio commentaries when India was playing. We used to get excited by his boundaries and comments on his leadership. We saw his pictures in newspapers and were thoroughly impressed by his hero image. We knew that he was blind in one eye, but we were told that his right eye was of marble which we believed sincerely and always scrutinized the pictures for ‘marble eye’ details. Everything combined, Pataudi influenced us greatly and he remained with us as a cricket hero.

After his retirement in 1975 he was not continuously associated with cricket. He did stints now and then as match referee or commentator. Just about a month ago he appeared in an Indian new channel invited to expert comment on Team India’s English nightmare. He still looked majestic, but something seemed to hold him back.

Tiger Pataudi married famous leading lady of Indian cinema of the sixties-seventies, Sharmila Tagore, in 1969 and so he continued to be in media limelight. His son Saif Ali Khan is a top Bollywood (Hindi Film Industry) hero and his first daughter Soha Ali Khan is also an acclaimed film actor.