Selectors146; message: young talent will be empowered

And the time has come to applaud Sourav Ganguly, not mourn anymore his absence for if we do so we will show him disrespect; remember him for his struggles rather than his victories. Ganguly is not a martyr but a fine warrior who has had a fine innings. It is not time to pity him but to celebrate him.

Soon another will emerge from 24 Parganas or Midnapore and he will compete with other young men from Rae Bareli and Valsad and from God8217;s own land in Kerala to play for India. That is the beauty of Indian cricket today and we must derive joy from it; from the arrival of India8217;s new nurseries and their acknowledgement by the selectors.

These ambitious young men are challenging the stars from the big cities. Ganguly of Kolkata has felt it but soon Sachin Tendulkar of Mumbai will, as indeed will Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble of Bangalore. It is not a conspiracy, just nature8217;s way of doing things.

And so we respect the past and look ahead with hope for there are some fine selections here. The time to blood Sreesanth is now; while he is fit, confident and sharp. And the selectors have given a huge vote of confidence to Piyush Chawla. I am sure he can turn the leg break more than he did in Colombo where he bowled a mean googly and got the ball to hurry. But more than his talent, it was his poise that stood out; there was a calmness about him and his confidence shone through.

It is too early to say how far he will go. He has the ability but success demands more qualities than just that. To label him the next Anil Kumble is both shortsighted and harmful; climbing a hill cannot give you a vision of Everest. But he can get no better teacher than Kumble, a large hearted champion.

VRV Singh has been picked on promise and that is a prerogative selectors have. He has been besieged with injuries but there is scarcely a knowledgeable observer in Indian cricket not impressed by him. India need to look for pace for such qualities are hard to find. He may shape up or he may not but we will never know unless we throw him in. Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble were first picked as selectorial hunches, so were Tinu Yohannan and Parthiv Patel.

Now Rahul Dravid has the team he wants for he can play four bowlers or five, three seamers or two, two spinners or three. He has some exciting fielders around him and some optimistic young talents to go with cool, experienced minds. The one-dayers in Pakistan will have given him the belief to think beyond, even if that was a different form of the game. If he gets good wickets he should be optimistic of India8217;s chances.

And he will respect those that line up opposite him. England are a fine side with the best pace quartet in the world by a long margin. There are batsmen with fine records but they will have to overcome the captain8217;s dodgy knee and a phobia for the turning ball. England sometimes give the impression of travelling with their minds made up; they seem to have post mortems ready even before patients can be so identified.

If England8217;s cricketers can have open minds, if they are happy to embrace a culture rather than yearn for the one they left behind, they will do well. And they will know that good fast bowlers have always done well in India. They must play to their strengths for the more spin they employ the happier India will be.

And hopefully by the time this tour is over, and India8217;s cricket administrators have finished counting the wealth they have generated, and when they have finished trading allegations and when they are through with exploiting every square inch of opportunity, they will tell us their vision for Indian cricket!