Defying all logic

It's taken Indian cricket less than eight months to proceed from the almost-sublime - the World Cup final - to the very ridiculous. The tamasha that was the selection of the Test team for Australia was a perfect example, as five wise men - and the team management - spent over three hours in discussion before choosing 20 players for 16 slots.

The logic would have shamed a five-year old. Those entrusted with the health and well-being of our national game have reached a stage where they reckon a one-day shootout against New Zealand - who have been competing tooth and nail with India for ineptitude honours - will give them further insight into the composition of a Test squad that has the onerous task of taking one of the best teams in history.

SK Nair, BCCI secretary, blubbered for a few seconds when asked about the wisdom of allowing one-day form to dictate Test selection, but managed nothing approaching an answer. Apparently, the captain and coach aren't too happy with some of the team's leading lights, who appear to have taken their places for granted. Tell us something we don't already know.

Nair also said that the panel had spent much time debating the performance, or lack of it, of the team in the TVS Cup. It hasn't helped that India's first-choice attack - Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble - currently look as potent as the Light Brigade of Crimean War fame. A Wagga Wagga Select XI would fancy their chances at the moment, and what a full-strength Australian batting line-up - which boasts of five of the world's top 10 batsmen - could do to them doesn't even bear thinking about.

In that respect, the selections of Irfan Pathan Jr. and Murali Kartik are to be welcomed. Pathan has produced some stunning spells in recent weeks, albeit not at the highest level, and he can surely do no worse than his senior compatriots whose struggles have reached barn-door proportions. Kartik has to play, if only because of what Ray Price, another left-arm spinner unafraid to flight the ball, did to Australia in Sydney last month. As for Harbhajan, the sooner he learns some new tricks, the less he'll be flogged on surfaces unlikely to yield 32 wickets in three Tests.

Pathan and Kartik will also take with them the element of surprise. Anyone who reckons the Aussies are intimidated by India's present attack has probably just undergone a lobotomy. On the contrary, Adam Gilchrist and friends seem to regard Zaheer Khan and company just as an expectant kid would Father Christmas.

The other great conundrum concerns wicketkeeping, where India pitch the bargain-basement skills of Parthiv Patel and Deep Dasgupta against Adam Gilchrist. To be fair to the selectors, they weren't spoilt for choice. Parthiv currently appears unable to either keep or bat with any degree of conviction and Ajay Ratra averages a hefty 5.33 when not batting at St. John's, while both Dasgupta and Thilak Naidu drop more clangers than David Seaman confronted by a lob from a distance.

Dasgupta's inclusion in the shortlist was also on the assumption that he could open the batting if required. If he crosses 20 even once, against an attack as potent as Australia's, it'll be a bonus. And as Sanjay Manjrekar told Wisden Asia Cricket recently, the block-block mentality will get you nowhere at all against a team as relentless as Australia. At least the much-maligned Sadagoppan Ramesh plays some shots, and makes a dent in the scoreboard until his luck runs out.

The men with most to play for in Hyderabad on Saturday will be Aavishkar Salvi and Ajit Agarkar, with Pathan and L Balaji ready to take their places on the flight if they fail. There could also be a hit-out for the reserve spot in the middle order, as Yuvraj Singh and Hemang Badani go head-to-head.

A month ago, when the Australian one-day team was announced, most of India sniggered. Nathan Bracken? Who? Brad Williams? What the Indian selectors wouldn't give to have such B-team players to choose from before an assignment so arduous that a 0-2 defeat will be taken as a sign of progress?