Will Badrinath be given a fair go?

In the eyes of all but the national selectors, Subramaniam Badrinath is the best batsman not to be capped by India. His record in every form of the game is vastly superior to that of his rivals, and you can't help but attribute sinister motives to the fact that the likes of Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were picked ahead of him.

Now, with Sachin Tendulkar out injured, Badrinath gets his chance, albeit in the one-day game. The warm-up game that India played in Colombo though featured Kohli, with Badrinath warming the bench, and you've got to wonder how the team management will handle him, especially if India are embarrassed by Mendis and Murali in coloured clothes as well.

I have nothing against Kohli, who captained the Under-19s superbly at the World Cup and is certainly a talent for the future. But his figures just don't stack up next to Badrinath's, and it's impossible to fathom just how he was preferred to him or Manoj Tiwary, another to state his case with plenty of runs at domestic level.

If Tiwary is now out of contention because of a poor IPL season - he barely got any chances - then the same standards should apply to Kohli, who did nothing of note throughout the six weeks. Other than Raina and Rohit, who are both certain to play in the XI, Badrinath was the other contender to catch the eye, though his cause wasn't helped by batting so low down the order for the Chennai Super Kings.

At 27 and in his prime, he has the potential to be a bulwark of India's batting over the coming decade. The manner in which he tackled Tait, Watson and Johnson down under two seasons ago suggests that he's more than ready. Give the boy a go, and forget about the zonal rubbish that's been the bane of Indian cricket for generations. Kohli's time will come, when he's good enough.

Comments

[neilsrini]

ADITYA. I throughly agree with you. One of the saddest days for Tamil Nadu cricket was when KKD the highest run scorer in the tour of England, the architect of the first in in England since 1986. The architect of the first significant away series win since 1986, was dropped after about 2 games at home. Sickening. Of course he had a bad Lanka series, everyone did. Plus he has nothing to play for when you know you are keeping a seat warm for a guy that could not be bothered to turn up. I can remember when Sadagopan Ramesh averaged 50 in tests.

Badri won't be given a chance we can bank on that. Already his comments when not originally selected will be stored in the memory bank of the selectors. Its only a matter of time. What was good to see from him, was the use of the old Indian method of playing spin. The method that made us the best. The method that has been lost since that day when Ashley Giles conquered Sachin Tendulkar in 2002. Since that fateful day when giles bowled into the ruff and killed Tendulkar as a batting force forever, no Indian has had the balls to use his feet to get to the ball and his wrists to guide the ones and two. The old art of a slow and painful death to spinners by picking them off in one's and two's, negating the risk and negating the spin with feet and wrist seemed lost until I saw what I saw yesterday.

By the way did anyone else think Dhoni's captaincy was terrible yesterday? Or was it just me?

[Rajesh Krishnan]

Seeing Badri playing Mendis @ Murali as comfortably as no one has till now, that tells great things about this lad's technique as he watches the ball out of the hand and plays with the bat rather poking the pad.He would have been an asset in the tests but......
Yuvi,Raina,Rohit learn from Badri, fools.

[Aditya]

In Tests, Sadagopan Ramesh handled himself well enough (average of 39), and did ok against the Aussies despite questions about his technique and temperament but was dropped unceremoniously.

Prior to the SL series, Dinesh Karthik was dropped after only one or two matches out of form. He was struggling in the shorter formats, but played well in Tests against England, and could have done with more faith in the longer game(that he batted in a braindead manner when re-selected). Yet flat-track bullies like Yuvraj constantly get more reprieves.

Badri played well today in the face of another potential calamity. Hopefully he'll be given a consistent run, and not be removed on the back of one failure.

[neilsrini]

What we need is a seismic change in the culture of the Indian dressing room and in the higher authorities that run Indian cricket. It should be OK to eat, Idli, Dosa, Vadai and Sambar. It should be OK that your first language is not Hindi. It should be OK that you like to wear a Madras Check. It should be OK to be different to the rest of the dressing room so long as you join in and contribute to the team.

At present this does not seem to be the case, though its a lot better than it was. Until this happens. the rare talents from Nagercoil to Udipi to Berhampur to Gantok to Dehra Dun will never make it, and nor will we. As Barack Obama famously plagiarized, "from coast to coast, from sea of shining sea, we are one nation and we are one people".

[Pritam Sinha]

Reading & replying today, I think having lost so badly they have no choice but to induct Badrinath into the XI or might as well go with Virat in the next game for consistency's sake.

If he is good player of spin bowling, play him for he can't do worse, can he? But, suddenly Indian seem to have lost their sheen vis-a-vis their hallowed batting strength. As vulnurable as SA? Thanks!

[neilsrini]

Dileep your post is rather strong. We can get away with it but this is your career. You should be careful that scum from the BCCI don't go after you in the same manner they go after the poor souls of the ICL.

Having said that I throughly agree with your post. I'm sure Sriram, Badhani, Sharath and Ramesh just to name a few would agree with your original post.

[neilsrini]

Dhoni's lack of understanding about any form of cricket was shown by his failure to turn up for a test tour. Perhaps we should reserve him for 20:20 because his non existent technique and one shot batting are being found wanting as we speak.

Dravid under Chapel tried to bring about a change in Indian cricket through youth and failed because they were not given time or support. The lessons learnt from this failure are that change must come gradually in a warranted manner, with guys with proven records at delivering in all situations coming in to key spots. For too long we have relied on luck and flukes, coming in and taking a chance and riding the wave. Its time we developed a consistent factory like Aus or Team GB in cycling where talent comes through on a guaranteed basis and are ready for the big time on arrival.

[Dileep]

Dhoni did captain Badrinath in the IPL. If he feels that Kohli is a better bet at this stage of his career, then you can only saw that his vision is as flawed as that of the selectors. I just fear that India will only play him once the series is lost and then he'll be on a hiding to nothing. Perhaps it would be best for his career if he sat on the sidelines and watched all the blue-eyed boys stuff up as spectacularly as they did on Monday.

[Homer]

Question I have is, its all dandy to beat up the selection committee, but what is the captain's role in all of this?

We know that Anil Kumble asked for, and got, Sehwag for the tour to Australia. He asked for, and got two wicket keepers for the Sri Lanka tour ( thus saving Rahul Dravid from having to don the gloves as envisaged by our Chairman of Selectors).

So what about MS Dhoni - he captained Badri in the IPL and has a voice in the selection process.

MS Dhoni has, in the past, gotten the temas he has wanted.So how does that square up his equation with S Badrinath?

Cheers,

[RamG]

I was plesantly surprised when Rohit Sharma was picked for the Test squad. He has done nothing of note in the longer version. He has potential. but so had Ian Bell. The problem with Sharma is that he makes good-looking 30s and 40s and throws it away. He is yet to play an innings of note in the longer version. I remember his Mumbai captain venting his frustration at Sharma's inability to covert starts into something substantial! But such are the vagaries of the selection. H e probably has the "blessings" of the Selection Committee!

[neilsrini]

I can't remember the last time a boy from Tamil Nadu got a fair go. I wont matter even if he makes it with a few good scores the knives will be out to sideline him at the next given opportunity. The only way he will make it is to have a beginning akin to Dravid and Dada in tests.

Lets face it he probably wont even get a game.

Its a shame really because he's the best fielder in India by a county mile. If the selectors insist on treating our domestic competitions with such contempt and select people on whims and fashion we will continue to be inconsistent a bit like the selectors themselves. Inconsistent selection breeds inconsistent performances.

[A Bisht]

If Badrinath is actually being taken for a ride, then the argument for having a sound selection system becomes much more valid