Return of Azhar

It is yet another googly from the selectors of India XI. No one was able to read quite right their drift on captaincy. The delivery may not have been as deadly this time, and can even be claimed to answer a long-evaded question. The replacement of Sachin Tendulkar as skipper by Mohammed Azharuddin for a four-month period, however, does not resolve the basic issue. It may prove an adequate enough response to the challenges immediately ahead — the Dhaka tournament, the home Test and ODI series against the tough Aussies, and the subsequent trial of strength with Zimbabwe as well as Mark Taylor’s men. But it is certainly not a step in the direction of a long or even medium-term solution of the problem of leadership that has been plaguing the game.

The case against Sachin’s continuance in the hot seat was, of course, undeniably clear. His 13-month record as captain in both Tests and one-dayers, particularly in the latter, has been dismal beyond defence. From his crowning amid much fanfare and expectations of miracles to his dethroning, it has been a trying time for the country’s cricket-loving millions. Persistence with his captaincy, on optimistic assumptions rather than realistic assessments, has not paid off. It is not only that our winning ways of the mid-eighties have become a faint and fading memory, but Sachin side would seem to have lately acquired the will to convert close-to-win situations into crushing defeats. The other, and perhaps clinching, argument was that the master blaster, compared before to Brian Lara and even to the great Don Bradman, was failing as a batsman under the burden of captaincy. The case, however, bristles with contradictions. Azhar, too, was, after all, expected to regain batting form after being relieved of captaincy, and he has indeed done so. Is not there risk of his return to the top spelling a setback for team on this count? Again, he was certainly the most successful of Indian skippers, but did not his axing follow a dismal show in South Africa and England? Has he been cured of qualities that were said to limit the effectiveness of his leadership (even if the powers-that-be should now be at pains to deny ever giving him a pep talk)?

And, was Sachin alone responsible for the slide-down? Did not the selectors of sanguinary chopping and changing and the bunglers of the Board for Control of Cricket in India systematically erode the authority of captaincy? Have not their outrageous arbitrariness played havoc with the game? Apportioning blame apart, this surely cannot convincingly be claimed to be a step of enduring impact, considering the current stage of Azhar’s career. The decision has clearly been taken without anything like due consideration of the question of separate squads and skippers for the two varieties of the game. Is it not time for the board to take a break from its extra-sporting interests and activities and bend its energies to the task of building a reasonably stable leadership to carry Indian cricket into the 21st century?