Santh surprise rookie in 2-tie package

Coach Greg Chappell sounded pleased. “This is a forward looking team,” he said. “The selectors have done a wonderful job by giving opportunity to young talent.”

One must understand that the rust may not go so easily. That is why, maybe, a few faces that could have been ignored for the moment still find themselves in. Gautam Gambhir is still fighting to cement his place as a Test opener. Giving him a place in the one-day squad without an impressive performance list as back-up may not have been the best idea. The 24-year-old has a compact footwork and the ability to bat on the aggressive side, but statistics — even going by his batting in Tests — don’t really provide that much justification for his inclusion.

The only other issue of contention could be in naming Sachin Tendulkar, instead of giving him further time to recover from the lapse of form and fitness. But, as Greg Chappell put it: ‘‘Maybe Tendulkar needs a bigger platform to get back into rhythm and the series against Sri Lanka might just be the one. The Challenger might not have been motivating enough for him and players of his class can always be an exception.’’

Currently, it is not Tendulkar’s batting that is more important, but his mere presence in the team and that could have been the deciding factor.

On the positive side, continuing with RP Singh, despite him not being among the most impressive fast bowlers in the Challenger Series, shows the selectors’ intention to do away with the attitude of frequent chopping and changing. RP played only one match on the tour of Zimbabwe and surely deserves a longer stint to prove his mettle.

Chappell’s core men now are the youngsters in the middle-order. Venugopala Rao, Suresh Raina, Dhoni, Yuvraj, JP Yadav and Pathan are among the ones the coach has seriously pursued with for some time now.

Mohammed Kaif could have been another important name in the list but has been left out due to a hamstring injury. The rest have Chappell’s supporters’ and the selectors’ nod to further prove themselves.

The surprise, of course, is in the inclusion of Kerala medium-pacer Sree Santh. His handsome haul of 58 wickets from 21 matches at the first class level has been major factor in the decision, but they way he troubled even the great Tendulkar in Mohali must have also added to issue.

An important aspect for Chappell to be happy is that he has got a couple of series at home before the overseas season begins. Until then, he has time on hand to experiment. “It will be my first series in India and I’m looking forward to it. We hope to have the team in the right frame of mind ahead of the series. India have a very good record at home and we will try to maintain that.”

Chairman of the selectors Kiran More made an important point while naming the team: ‘‘These players will have to work very hard to maintain their place in the team. We are working our way towards the 2007 World Cup and youngsters will now remain the crux of Indian cricket. But performance is a serious criteria and their future will depend heavily on it.’’

The bad news in naming the team was in store for Laxman and Kumble who do not appear to be in Chappell’s scheme of things for the ODI future. Zaheer Khan though is a notable exception.

(With inputs from Ravi Shankar)