Sivaramakrishnan in Rest team

“He has been bowling extremely well in the local tournaments (in Chennai) and impressed everyone during the (World Cup preparatory) camp at Chennai recently,” opined Wadekar while addressing newsmen. “Besides, he had been a match-winnerfor India and we decided to try him out keeping the forthcoming World Cup in mind,” he stressed. Interestingly, Siva last represented the country against Zimbabwe at Mumbai during the 1987 Reliance World Cup. And in the last nine years he has featured in just eight Ranji Trophy matches, the last two spanning five years.

One of the central characters that fetched India the 1985 World Championship of Cricket supremacy in Australia, Sivaramakrishnan has decided to shift his allegiance from Tamil Nadu to Baroda from this season. His last Test match was against the Australians at Sydney during the 1985-86 series.

Commenting on Sivaramakrishnan’s age, Wadekar pointed out that it would not be a deterrent. “Age doesn’t matter much for a spinner.”

Summing up the committee’s first assignment, Wadekar said: “Basically we have selected a team for a five-day game.” He emphasised that the absence of the likes of Gagan Khoda, Sairaj Bahutule and Hrishikesh Kanitkar “doesn’t mean that we have ruled them out.”“They might get a look-in against the West Indies A team’s tour to India and during the Challenger Series,” he hinted.

The new selection committee in its first assignment appears to have done a fair job. However, intriguing is the selection of Andhra medium-pacer N Madhukar, who was left out in the cold after touring Pakistan with the India A team early this year.

THE REST OF INDIA TEAM

Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman (captain), Amol Muzumdar (Mumbai), Jyoti Yadav (Uttar Pradesh), Jatin Paranjpe (Mumbai), Rohan Gavaskar (Bengal), Sridharan Sharath (Tamil Nadu), MSK Prasad (Andhra), Nikhil Chopra, Robin Singh Jr (both Delhi), Paras Mhambrey (Mumbai), N Madhukar (Andhra), Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (Baroda), Sanjay Raul (Orissa) and Rajesh Pawar (Mumbai).