Match-fixing shadow on team — Azhar, Jadeja and Chopra axed

The Minister had reiterated the point almost every time the Board chief, A.C. Mutthiah, met him in New Delhi. With pressure mounting, it was only a question of time for the axe to fall on the three.

If the Board has not said a word on Coach Kapil Dev, it is mainly because it expects the CBI report to be ready before the Chennai camp gets underway on September 13. The indications are that the investigating agency is giving its final touches to the report and would be submitting it to the Government any time now.

By not touching the issue of the coach, the Board has obviously bought time, probably thinking that the report would settle the issue. However, there are strong rumours that the coach has already sent in his resignation.

Though the Board has hinted that the match-fixing allegations are the reason for dropping Azhar, Chopra and Jadeja, it is reliably learnt that the first two have been left out for their non-performance in the Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka. But the same cannot to said about Jadeja, who blazed with a 95 against Pakistan.

As for the probables list, the Board seems to have fixed its eyes on the 2003 World Cup. The dropping of Andhra stumper M.S.K.Prasad and the induction of Mongia may have raised several eyebrows, but arguably he is the best we have at the moment. It is another matter that Mongia has been in and out of the team since the World Cup in England and the reason could have been that he too was linked to match-fixing. But that his place was not raided may have gone in his favour even as it inexplicably exposed the talent available in the country.

It is good that Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Reuban Paul has been brought in. He will prove to be a good understudy to Mongia as Reuban is a good batsman as well. He was prolific in the last season for his state. But the inclusion of Delhi’s Vijay Dhaiya and Haryana’s Ajay Ratra is rather surprising.

Similarly, the Board has once again picked middle-order batsman Vinod Kambli. No doubt, he is a good player and has been a great success for Mumbai in the last domestic season but his inclusion this time has more to do with the absence of experienced players like Azhar and Jadeja. So is the case with Jacob Martin, another middle-order batsman. He is a very good five-day batsman but considering him for the one-day format once again exposes the Board’s intentions.

By naming medium-pacer T. Kumaran and Amit Bhandari, the Board has given these youngsters another chance to prove. In the absence of spearhead Javagal Srinath, the mantle has fallen on both Venkatesh Prasad and Ajit Agarkar for guiding the youngsters. Baroda’s Zaheer Khan should add to the variety as he is considered to be a promising left-arm bowler. One hopes he will not be treated like Delhi’s Ashish Nehra, who was specially picked for the Sri Lankan tour a couple of seasons ago only to be dropped soon after.

In fact, the selectors did it with scores of others, including Amay Khurasia and Virender Sehwag. Similarly, Murali Karthik was treated more shabbily. The selectors have been rotating between him and Sunil Joshi. Mercifully, however, the selections have reposed faith in Ravneet Rickey and Yuvraj Singh, the architects of India’s victory in the Junior World Cup in Sri Lanka last year. Unfortunately, the selectors have not been able to find an able off-spinner to replace Chopra.

In the game of musical chairs that the Board officials have been playing, one thing has emerged very clearly: the future has been kept in mind. But didn’t we hear it in 1990 as well with Raj Singh Dungarpur at the helm? He had at that time said that the selectors picked a team for the future. It is another matter that most of them barely survived.

Whatever the reasons they may cite for dropping Azhar, Jadeja and Chopra, Round One has gone to the Government. How one wishes the Board had also wielded the same broom to take care of some tainted officials? Maybe, the Government has do some rethinking on this as well.