Selectors face a pace mess

When the selectors meet on Saturday to pick the squad for the three-Test encounter in Sri Lanka,starting with the first encounter in Galle from July 18....

When the selectors meet on Saturday to pick the squad for the three-Test encounter in Sri Lanka,starting with the first encounter in Galle from July 18,they will be vexed about the lack of an in-form bowling partner for left-arm medium pacer Zaheer Khan. The selectors will be either looking at bowlers who have been out of form and havent been given the platform to regain Test match fitness and confidence or those still wet behind the ears..

Krishnamachari Srikkanths team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India will have to cop most of the blame for the predicament the team finds itself. This is simply because Indias best options,in terms of partnering Zaheer,havent been sent on the India A tour of England by the selectors and they have also been barred by the Indian cricket board from playing in the County circuit.

Cases in point are S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma. While the former played in the Sheesh Mahal Twenty20 tournament,the latter has been seen in Delhis hot weather circuit.

Left-arm medium-pacer Rudra Pratap Singh doesnt inspire enough confidence anymore,while Munaf Patel has been rather inconsistent and both are in similar predicaments as that of Sreesanth and Sharma.

Praveen Kumar,part of the Asia Cup winning squad,has largely been playing One-day cricket,while Ashish Nehra is rather clear that his body cant take the demands of the five-day game.

The selectors have the option of throwing Karnatakas medium-pacer Abhimanyu Mithun,the highest wicket taker in last seasons Ranji Trophy,into the deep end but it will be a huge gamble. Jayadev Unadkat has caught the eye during the India A tour but he still could be raw for Test cricket.

Indias former bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad believes the selectors have messed up. The selectors need to have vision. Why arent bowlers like Sreesanth,Ishant,RP Singh or any of the others,who till recently formed the core of our bowling attack,on the India A tour? It isnt a rule that only bowlers who havent played for the country earlier should be picked to the India A side, Prasad told the Indian Express. It just shows that the selectors dont have a clear vision.

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Also Prasad believes that bowlers who had potential County contracts would have benefitted if they had played in England. Zaheer made a great comeback after he played County cricket. It helped him gain confidence,improve his fitness and saw him develop into a mature bowler. Why were our players stopped from playing County cricket? If we are seeing a lack of depth in bowling it has a lot to do with the poor planning and lack of vision on part of the selectors.

An India Test bowler,who didnt want to be named told this paper: If I dont get picked for the Test series in Sri Lanka I may not see any action till the end of September. And if I am in the squad then I will be going into the Test series without any quality matches under my belt and will be lacking in confidence. I had offers from County sides but the BCCI didnt allow me to play. I believed the selectors would pick me for the India A tour but even that didnt happen. I am fit but it wont be easy to bowl against the likes of Sangakkara or Jayawardene after playing in local games.