Bangladesh tour selection

In general, I am quite happy with what our selectors have done. However, there are a few areas where I am not in agreement.

Before going into the details of the one day and test teams, I would like to comment on the general feeling of having younger players in the side. This, according to me, is complete bull shit. You cannot kill your present while preparing for the future. I am not saying that older generation should be in the team based on their statistics alone. They definitely need to perform - with bat, ball and even on the field. They may be given benefit of doubt sometimes based their history but if the performances are consistently below par, they ought to be sent back to the domestic arena. Having said this, if a player in his 30s is still capable, he ought to be there ahead of Rainas, Kaifs and Mongias. If you do not agree, I will rest my case with asking you to take a look at how Hayden, Ponting, Jayasurya and Kallis have played in this world cup and we all know how old they are.

Switching back to the team selection topic and talking of one dayers first, not having Tendulkar there is fine for me as long as he is being rested. This is the right tour to rest him. Ganguly has been the highest scorer of late, but the way he has played somehow makes you feel that he is playing to get runs for himself. However, I am sure that is not the case. He needs to score a little faster to justify his place as an opener. I will give a thumbs up to Dravid for ensuring Sehwag's inclusion in the side. That guy is gifted and it is not over for him yet. Uthappa's retention, inspite of his recent failures, is also a good news. Having Sreesanth & RP Singh in the team ahead of Agarkar and VRV is also a good decision. Similarly, dropping Harbhajan is an excellent move. Of late, he was not effective at all and never looked like that he'll get any wickets. Will be eager to see how Piyush Chawla will perform if he gets a chance. What I do not like is the inclusion of Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Mongia. We have 2 openers in Sehwag and Uthappa and we should be playing them in all matches and let them get their confidence back. If one of them fails in this series as well, Gambhir could be tried out, but not now. Mongia, who is not even young, has had enough chances. We needed some fresh youngsters in the middle order. Even Raina (not sure of he is fit) or Kaif would have been a better choice.

As for the test team, good to see Tandulkar, Ganguly and Laxman there. Unfortunately, Yuvraj has not got many chances to play in tests. He is a champion player for me and it is high time we start playing him regularly in tests as well. Including Karthick as an opener is a good way to give him some opportunities to prove himself. I would have preferred Sehwag there but I can wait for a series. Dropping Harbhajan is again a good move. And opting for VRV here instead of RP again makes room for both to showcase their talent, though in different forms of game. From what I have seen so far, RP Singh is much more mature and effective than VRV. I hope to see a more mature VRV in this series.

It will be interesting to see how Indians perform after their world cup show, especially after that shock loss to Bangladesh. Will they be very keen to trounce the hosts and thereby prove a point or two. I hope so ... but only the time will tell!