The National selectors are hardly perturbed with the delay in the selection of the team for the Champions Trophy tournament scheduled to commence in England from June 1.
The team was to be picked on April 22, three days ahead of the deadline set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for submitting the names of the players.
Most participating nations are expected to announce their squads soon with Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa already through with their selections.
The tournament rules stipulate that a player may be replaced only in the wake of an injury sustained during the competition but there is no clarity on what action the ICC could initiate if a nation does not meet the deadline.
Sources confirmed that India would miss the April 25 deadline because of the ICC meetings in Dubai.
“It is not that the selectors would be coming from far-flung corners of the world if they have to meet at a short notice. There is no need to panic,” said a Board official. In any case, the selectors are reportedly ready even though indications are the team may now be picked after April 27.
Modes of communication
The selectors have their way of communicating with each other. According to a former National selector, there were times when the members would come prepared and the meeting would be over in less than half-an-hour.
“There may have been long meetings too, following healthy debates over a name or two, but usually we would discuss the names before assembling and come to a conclusion with consensus of all,” said Vikram Rathour, part of the previous selection committee. In fact, the selections of the Indian team for the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 were reportedly smooth because the members had exchanged their notes and opinions on a constant basis and when they met to finalise the process, it was achieved in a smooth manner.
“It is not that we come, meet and then discuss. At most meetings, 12 to 13 players pick themselves and the remaining are selected on the basis of the slots available.
Factors for selection
“The key factors are consistency and utility. We look at the first-class season performances of the batsmen and only in a rare instance would a player be picked on the basis of a showing in one particular tournament unless you come across a bowler who bowls 140-plus consistently (like Basil Thampi of Kerala),” added Rathour.
Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya was selected on the basis of his IPL performances last season only because there was no other candidate for the all-rounder’s slot other than Stuart Binny and Rishi Dhawan. It is now understood that performances in the IPL would not be considered for selection this time around.
Curious case of Karthik
Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been in splendid form this season, topping the batting aggregate in the Vijay Hazare Tournament (607 runs) and Deodhar Trophy (247 runs), but he could lose out to M.S. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav, who can keep wickets in an emergency. Karthik can stake his claims for the opener’s slot where Shikhar Dhawan and Manish Pandey are in close race, not to forget some backing for Delhi star Rishabh Pant.
Four pacers
Umesh Yadav, Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah should pick themselves this time along with spinners R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav/Harbhajan Singh. The best Test bowler, Mohammed Shami is short of match practice.
Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Dhawan/Pandey complete the batting with Pandya in as an all-rounder.
Dhawan, with an aggregate of 363 runs (two centuries), was the man of the tournament when India won the 2013 title beating England in a match reduced to 20 overs a side.
