Wright moves

Prabhat Kumar

I'm sure all of you've noticed what John Wright's been doing. He's creating competition for spots in the Indian line-up, slowly but surely -- just as Steve Waugh's been doing with his famous rotation policy -- albeit not being as vocal about it. When he's done with the Indian team 10 years from now it might well be one of his least talked about accomplishments but, make no mistake, the most significant.

Take for instance the masterstroke of sending Hemang Badani to open the innings in the tour match against the CFX academy. It put Ramesh on notice. How Ramesh deals with it will give us all an insight into his character. In Wright's scheme of things he's looking for people who have the guts to stand up and want to be counted upon in a crisis. If Ramesh can't deliver, I don't see him being able to keep his place much longer. And Badani's knocking on the door, hard, wanting to be let in.

The only other spot where Badani might be able to get in is in place of Ganguly. With Ganguly being captain, that might be a wee bit tougher than bidding for the opening spot. But again, I think Ganguly's going to go on notice too if he doesn't deliver very soon. He's got a little more time to play himself in just because he's captain.

What will happen when Kumble recovers from his shoulder injury? What would have happened had he been fit for selection for the first Test? Would he have played instead of Harbhajan? Would India have played three seamers? India would most likely have played the three seamers that played, but the more interesting question is Kumble or Harbhajan? Although this wasn't Wright's doing a la Ramesh-Badani, it certainly bodes well for the team. Wright's, in fact, said that he want's Kumble to fight to get back into the team. And boy, what a fight he's got on his hands. Is it going to injure his pride if he's not selected? Most certainly. But that's good. It will be wrong to make him an automatic selection like Warne is for the Australians although they could easily replace him with McGill.

Now, should Tendulkar be playing Zimbabwe or more ridiculously Bangladesh? I don't think so. I know we hadn't won a Test abroad in so and so years, and I also know that Tendulkar hasn't scored a century in Zimbabwe. He would want to set that record straight. Well, okay then. Give him a couple of Tests and tell him, 'listen mate you've got two Tests to score your century after which you will not be playing them anymore unless absolutely required'. Badani or someone else could play instead of him and if that person does well, wouldn't it heat up the competition a little more? It would also give him valuable Test match experience.

Like Tendulkar, Dravid need not be playing Zimbabwe or Bangladesh either, as also, at a later date when he matures and settles in, Laxman. Ganguly needs to play whenever he's not injured because he needs to hone his captaincy skills and try out new tactics.

As far as the wicketkeeping slot goes, it looks like its Dighe's for the taking solely because of the grit he's displayed in such short time. He also seems to enjoy the backing of Wright and Ganguly. Here too, before the inevitable lethargy creeps in, someone like MSK Prasad needs to be encouraged to give him a fight. And we might also need to find someone more in the ODI mould. Did I hear someone say Vikram Rathour? Aww! Come on. And it has to be done in double quick time -- the World Cup is less than two years away.

And lastly the fast bowling options seem to be plenty. The golden boy of yesterday, Agarkar, didn't even find a place in the eleven for the first Test against Zimbabwe. When was the last time that India had five pace bowlers in the squad? And Prasad didn't even get a look in! Boy, he must be peeved. The magic word for this lot is 'perform'. They know that any slackness will prove costly.

There should come a time in the not too distant future where any 11 guys could be picked and it wouldn't make a difference to the strength of the team. Can we say that for this team? No! Not yet, but dare say they're getting there, Wright's leading them down that path.

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