Searching for that missing spark in ‘A’ company

2015: It’s not that current chief selector Sandeep Patil, and his men, haven’t looked hard enough, but they just haven’t been able to unearth that one special talent that they can look back with pride. Such is the situation in domestic cricket that Patil and his team have gone back to some old familiar faces for the current India A squad. And hope that someone steps up.

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A look around the Chidambaram stadium in Chennai where the India A players were practising on Tuesday afternoon brought up that four-letter word called hope.

There wasn’t the feverish air of thrill and enthusiasm that you usually associate with an A team, supposedly filled by young men who show off the nation’s bench strength, but this rather resigned, even dull, air of hope.
It isn’t that the players here don’t have the talent, but somehow they haven’t been able to bridge the yawning gap that lies between first class and international.

Some of them have toiled hard for six years, some have been one-season wonders while a few others have retreated two steps back every time they seemed to move a step ahead.

To start with, India A’s bowling attack will be in the hands of Dhawal Kulkarni, Mumbai’s pace hero, who was first picked for the India squad in 2009. In the ensuing years, he has featured in eight ODIs and despite nearly eight years of domestic experience, has remained in fringe players’ category. The likes of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron have moved beyond him but the selectors still have faith in Kulkarni to add weight to India’s bench strength.

And there is India A captain Unmukt Chand, who hogged the limelight with his brilliant hundred in the final of the Under 19 World Cup in 2012 and even featured in an ambitious ad campaign with Dhoni where he talked off bigger things.

But he hasn’t been able to back that talk with performances in domestic cricket. Like many a young batsman, Chand too has found it tough against the red ball which swings a bit. He found some form in last year’s two A games against the West Indies, but overall Chand still needs to pull up his socks.

Like Chand, Manish Pandey has always shown ‘potential’, especially after storming into the limelight with a swashbuckling IPL ton in South Africa in 2009, but has quietly slid back.

A brilliant fielder, he has scored runs in domestic cricket but questions have been asked about his skill against genuine pace.

Sandeep Sharma, who was in the 2010 U-19 World Cup squad and starred in the 2012 edition, can probably argue that injury has hampered his progress.

A mediumpace bowler who can get the ball to swing, he promised big things after his performances in the U-19 World Cup, but has been laid low by a stress fracture on his back.

Rishi Dhawan, the Himachal Pradesh allrounder who averages 24.72 with the ball from 43 first-class games, came close to national selection once in 2013 but wasn’t considered for India tour to Bangladesh that year — he lost out to Stuart Binny — as selectors felt most of his wickets came on grassy tracks.

All in all, it’s not that these players don’t have the talent, but they haven’t impressed the selectors yet. They don’t see a special spark in them like they saw with a young Rohit or Kohli.

More importantly, neither have these boys put up a strong case like Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, who kept piling on the runs in domestic cricket and forced the selectors to pick them.

Over the next 10 days they will have Rahul Dravid to mentor them, and luckily most of them are still relatively young. But it’s clear that this ‘A’ company needs to grow up and quickly at that.

For South Africa ‘A’, opportunity knocks

WITH South Africa scheduled for a long tour of India in late September, it will be an opportunity for fringe players of their ‘A’ team to push for a spot in their Test side.

South Africa A is set to take on Australia A at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in the first tri-series game on Wednesday and players know the importance of this tri-series.

South Africa A captain Dean Elgar talked about the significance of this tour. “It is important for all players in the series to stamp their mark… achieving their goals. It’s (getting into the main national team) something that every player is thinking about. We didn’t speak about it. It’s a common goal that any player playing in an ‘A’ side has.

Players want to eventually play for the national side. This series is very big series for every player in the side,” Elgar said.

South Africa has been going through a transition with many senior players retiring in the last 12 months or so, and Elgar believes there is an opportunity.

“South African cricket is going through lot of transformation and transition in all three formats. You see now there are a lot of new faces in our Test team as well. In one day cricket also. This trend is massive. This series is very important.”

(ENS)