End of Road?
19 Nov 2013 10:36 PM GMT
Now that the dust has settled after the week-long hysteria over Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, it’s time to look into BCCI’s decision to axe Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh and demote Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir to Grade B in the new central contracts list for 2013-14 season.
Little over a year back, both Zaheer and Sehwag were in Grade A and along with Harbhajan and Yuvraj, though shunted to Grade B, were considered part of the team managements’ plans. But a lot has changed since then and Indian cricket, it seems, is in the middle of a conscious effort to cope with the life sans stalwarts of the past decade, the last of which called it a day in Mumbai last Saturday.
Though not finding a place in the contracts’ list doesn’t mean a player can’t be selected in the team, the fate of the aging stars indeed look uncertain ahead of the South Africa tour scheduled next month.
Theoretically, Zaheer’s vast experience and ability to swing both the new and old ball make him a strong contender for a place in the pace department. But Zaheer, since his return from a six-week training camp in France last August, didn’t do much to strengthen his case apart from bowling the occasional good spell in the present domestic season. By all probability, India will pick five fast bowlers and two spinners for the tour.
Among the current contracted seamers, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are obvious picks while Ishant Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar and Mohit Sharma, along with uncontracted Zaheer, will fight for the two remaining spots. Going by BCCI’s drive to build the team on the shoulders of youth as well as current form, Zaheer’s chances doesn’t look bright.
Zaheer is 35 now while the eldest among the four contracted players, Vinay Kumar, is 29 followed by Ishant (25), Mohit (25) and Unadkat (22).
However, given his class, a fully-fit Zaheer can still do wonders with a little bit of help from the track and he has shown that time and again. Zaheer is also one of the last few active players belonging to the original ‘new-age’ India team built by Sourav Ganguly.
TOMORROW’S PICK: VIRENDER SEHWAG
Little over a year back, both Zaheer and Sehwag were in Grade A and along with Harbhajan and Yuvraj, though shunted to Grade B, were considered part of the team managements’ plans. But a lot has changed since then and Indian cricket, it seems, is in the middle of a conscious effort to cope with the life sans stalwarts of the past decade, the last of which called it a day in Mumbai last Saturday.
Though not finding a place in the contracts’ list doesn’t mean a player can’t be selected in the team, the fate of the aging stars indeed look uncertain ahead of the South Africa tour scheduled next month.
Theoretically, Zaheer’s vast experience and ability to swing both the new and old ball make him a strong contender for a place in the pace department. But Zaheer, since his return from a six-week training camp in France last August, didn’t do much to strengthen his case apart from bowling the occasional good spell in the present domestic season. By all probability, India will pick five fast bowlers and two spinners for the tour.
Among the current contracted seamers, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are obvious picks while Ishant Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar and Mohit Sharma, along with uncontracted Zaheer, will fight for the two remaining spots. Going by BCCI’s drive to build the team on the shoulders of youth as well as current form, Zaheer’s chances doesn’t look bright.
Zaheer is 35 now while the eldest among the four contracted players, Vinay Kumar, is 29 followed by Ishant (25), Mohit (25) and Unadkat (22).
However, given his class, a fully-fit Zaheer can still do wonders with a little bit of help from the track and he has shown that time and again. Zaheer is also one of the last few active players belonging to the original ‘new-age’ India team built by Sourav Ganguly.
TOMORROW’S PICK: VIRENDER SEHWAG
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