Sunday, Nov 17, 2002
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
One of the newcomers to the selection committee, Pronob Roy, will be among the five whose responsibility will be to choose the 15-member squad for the World Cup in South Africa next February-March. Bangar, who made an extraordinary 41-ball 57, should now figure prominently when the selectors sit to pick 30 probables and the final 15 for the World Cup. Roy was awestruck by Bangar's magnificent stroke production. On Saturday morning before leaving Ahmedabad for Baroda for the fifth match of the TVS Cup, he said he and his colleagues had dilly-dallied while considering the option of selecting Jai Prakash Yadav and Bangar. They finally settled for Bangar. "What terrific shots he played off Pedro Collins. Superb, wasn't it,'' Roy asked in admiration. Bangar was one among the surprise inclusions the previous national selectors chose a few hours before Sourav Ganguly's team boarded plane at Johannesburg after the unofficial Test against South Africa at the Centurion last November. After a year injury did not permit him to bowl a lot in his first Test, but he made a decent start, scoring 30 odd runs. Soon, he was the toast of the Indian team at Nagpur, scoring an unbeaten 100 against Zimbabwe. It set up an Indian win. His uninhibited driving in front of the wicket and over the infield, especially against Zimbabwe's left-arm spinner Raymond Price was a treat to watch, when someone like Sachin Tendulkar strugging to pick the bowler's line and length. He came to the fore again at Leeds, in the third Test against England, and under cloud cover and against a four-man seam attack. It was the Nagpur knock that actually proved that one could count on him when the chips were down. Bangar was not exciting in the three-Test series against the West Indies. He was never regarded to be a one-day specialist. The selectors, however, chose him in the 15 at Kolkata. Bangar had played four matches, scored 37 runs and taken three wickets at 44.00. But Brijesh Patel & Co opted for him because they were keen and eager to see how he shaped in one-day internationals. Bangar had caused problems as a seamer in helpful conditions and at majority of the venues in South Africa. In this regard the national selectors did the right thing in order to ascertain the full value of his skills and temperament. Bangar passed the litmus test on Friday. His partner, Dravid said: "He played an absolute blinder. He was simply sensational. In that situation (after the dismissals of Yuveraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif) India needed me or someone else to play an innings like that. Once I realised that he was striking the ball, my job was to pull back. For him to play a knock like that on his return (for a one-day international) was really sensational. A target of 325 is not easy to chase. The game plan was to keep wickets in hand. We were in a crunch situation and some one put his hand up and delivered.'' At the press conference Bangar did not appear to be a man who had proved his critics wrong. He was matter of fact saying, "I had a bad day on the field. I was eager to score runs. During the break Ganguly said that one cannot have good days all the time and told me to take it easy. That boosted my spirits. When I walked out to bat, I was confident we could do it.'' "Nobody's place is permanent,'' he said while answering a question whether he had established his place in the one-day team. "One performance doesn't cement my place. One needs to build it up, be consistent and cement his place''. Bangar, turned out to a smashing hit. It was a phenomenal effort by a man thought to be a mediocre first class cricketer twelve months ago. Bangar is less likely to get batting opportunities, because he is marked at No. 8. Ganguly tossed the ball to him not before the 37th over on Friday when the West Indies' score was 204 for two. Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan picked 13 runs off him. His first over turned out to be his last. It is the responsibility of the captain and the coach to define a player's role. Ten more one-day internationals are to be played, three more in the TVS Cup and seven in New Zealand. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked for the deadline date to be moved further (from December 31 for the final 15) because India will not finish the one-day series against New Zealand before January 14.
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