145;Quota146; system dominates A team146;s selection

The recent meeting of the selection committee at Kolkata to pick the India A team had witnessed some acrimonious scenes. The quota system ba...

The recent meeting of the selection committee at Kolkata to pick the India A team had witnessed some acrimonious scenes. The quota system based on regionalism, which seems to have been done away with in recent times, once again reared its ugly head as the wise men sat to 8216;discuss8217; the tour party to England.

There was a heated discussion over the inclusion of Karnataka8217;s Vijay Bhardwaj and Bengal8217;s Rohan Gavaskar, it is reliably learnt. There were a few voices of dissent which pointed out that the two had done nothing exceptional this season to deserve their place in the squad.

One of the selectors, speaking to The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity, said: 8216;8216;This is one of the worst selections by the present panel. Some of the selectors have shown their true colours.8217;8217;

While there was no consensus on the selection of Bhardwaj and Gavaskar, the same was true about the two glaring omissions 8212; Delhi8217;s prolific batsman this season Mithun Manhas and Mumbai leggie Sairaj Bahutule. The sources also said that there was a voice that insisted that 8216;8216;since no player from the South had been included in the 8216;A8217; teams in recent months, this time they should be given the opportunity.8217;8217;

And a look at the team proves that this voice happened to have its last say. The inclusion of five players from the South 8212; S Sriram, Hemang Badani, Vijay Bhardwaj, Ambati Rayudu and L Balaji 8212; has brought back the memories of the Indian squad of 90s, which was dominated by the South.

The selection committee also side-stepped the on-and-off-field assessments of all the players placed before it by BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya. According to sources, there were some adverse comments against some of the 8216;selected8217; players, including Badani, Sriram and Amit Bhandari. If Badani had 8216;8216;attitude8217;8217; problem, Sriram was found 8216;8216;not good enough for international cricket8217;8217; while Bhandari was 8216;8216;found wanting on physical fitness.8217;8217;

However, the five-member selection panel is reported to have swept these comments of the players under the carpet and decided to give them 8216;8216;another chance8217;8217; on the 8216;8216;merit of their recent performances alone.8217;8217; Badani, who scored a disciplined century for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai earlier this month, and had played four Tests and 29 ODIs, was named the vice-captain of the touring party. But Abhjit Kale, another contender whose name was discussed in the meeting, was not so lucky. 8216;8216;He can8217;t throw from the outfield8217;8217; was the comment that went against the Maharashtra batsman.