Selectors' choice

Ashok Hegde

It's a tough job being a national selector. Tougher than being a prime minister with a bad knee; any day. You can't even begin to imagine the pressure under which these guys perform. Media pressures, zonal pressures, pressure from the CBI blokes, the BCCI, the paying public, and a certain Mr Jaywant Lele (and you must agree with me here that it's far easier to deal with a Mamta Banerjee)... it's a wonder they pick a team at all.

Have you ever wondered what kind of a team the selectors would pick, if they were given a free hand? Then, here's who they would have picked, and in their own words, why.

Vikram Rathore: "Can keep wickets. He might drop some catches, but if you don't try him, how can he get the experience. Lends balance to the side."

Devang Gandhi: "We haven't watched him play a lot lately. So we will be watching him closely during this series."

Ajay Jadeja: "We don't want to get into court hassles ahead of such an important series. We want our boys to concentrate on the cricket."

Vinod Kambli: "We have picked him to bat against Shane Warne. And we saw him on Kaun Banega Crorepati, and you can see he has lost a lot of weight."

Hrishikesh Kanitkar: "He is the allrounder. A good replacement for Robin Singh."

Syed Saba Karim: "Will be our main wicketkeeper. Ajay Ratra, MSK Prasad, Vijay Dahiya and Nayan Mongia were also considered. But Karim is a better and more aggressive batsman. Remember Saqlain?''

T Kumaran: "Shows promise. A very good prospect."

Ashish Nehra: "Very enthusiastic youngster. You can see it in the way he runs into bowl."

Venkatapathy Raju: "We have taken him for his experience, now that Kumble is not playing. Has improved his batting a lot."

Rajesh Chauhan: "His arm is coming a lot straighter now. And can also belt a six at crucial stages of a match."

Surinder Singh: "He is a medium pace bowler and a right-hand lower order batsman from Himachal Pradesh. He is 27 and we thought it is the right time to play him."

PS: This is supposed to be a one-day team, but I won't be suprised if this team is selected to play Tests.

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