In Response to Arm Ball: of Srikkanth and Parochial Selection

I chanced upon the last couple of posts on the blog Arm Ball, in which the author seems quite worried about what he sees as extremely parochial selections from Krish Srikkanth (the head of the Indian selection committee). He feels that the former opener has a myopic vision which does not extend beyond Tamil Nadu, and also that he has a dangerous agenda for Indian cricket.

I'm no Tamil Nadu apologist (despite my roots lying in Madras), nor am I a fan of Srikkanth for any reason apart from his entertaining if comical batting back in the day. But I'd still like to put some of Arm Ball's points in perspective:

1. Even if a couple of TN players have seemingly cemented their places in the national side - on the basis of good performances, I might add - you can hardly argue that the selectors haven't rewarded players from other parts of the country. Ashish Nehra was brought back in last year, and the fact that he grabbed the chance to put his career back on track is a minor success story. They've similarly kept the faith with Rohit Sharma, even if he still has much to prove. And Yuvraj Singh continues to be regarded highly enough to be an automatic selection in all forms of the game, even if his figures and fitness haven't always justified the same.

2. I don't get the widespread uproar over M.Vijay being Sehwag's replacement for the World T20. It was a close race, and no doubt Kohli and Uthappa had staked their claims as well. There was not much in it, and I wouldn't have complained if either of these guys had gotten the nod. In Vijay's case, his performances in the IPL speak for themselves, and the fact that he is an opener might have tilted things in his favour. It's convenient to offer the regionalism angle as explanation, except that Vijay has actually shown himself to be worthy of a trial so it doesn't entirely stack up.(Stepping into Viru's shoes is a big ask for anyone, Kohli or Uthappa or whoever)

3. S.Aniruddha (Srikkanth's son) made a vital contribution during yesterday's game, and R.Ashwin has had a pretty good time of it in the IPL. Even so, I can't see either of them being remotely close to making the national side at this stage. That they've played a visible role in taking the Super Kings to the final really shouldn't be the basis for fearing that the national squad will suddenly be overrun by TN players.

4. As for the other "replacement" players the author pointed out: anybody who has a clue about the Ranji Trophy scene over the last few years will confirm that S.Badrinath has been extremely unlucky not to make it to the national side prior to this season, and few could argue that he perhaps deserved an extended run in the slot occupied by Yuvraj Singh. Balaji's international comeback has thus far been limited to one ODI in February; for the sake of comparison, RP Singh played ten international games under the same committee last year. And Dinesh Kaarthick, inconsistent as he might be, is at the moment the best backup keeper-batsman available in the country. The author seems to have forgotten that it was Bengal's Wriddhiman Saha, not DK, who was selected as Dhoni's backup for the Nagpur test against the South Africans (he eventually played as a batsman, but let's not go there).

5. "Srikanth is the brand ambassador of CSK in addition to the head of the national selection committee." Yes, he should be taken to task, no arguments here. I'm sure we'll see much more cracking down over the next few days as fresh allegations and revelations continue to come out.

Like I said, I'm not out to defend Srikkanth, and I don't think the committee has been doing a faultless job by any means. The recall of Dravid to the one-day squad (and his subsequent dumping), the Wriddhiman Saha fiasco, and the seeming refusal to get tough with Yuvraj have been some particularly low points. But in the absence of any concrete evidence, we should really cast aside any suspicions of regional favouritism and focus on matters more cricketing.