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Sidhu, Harbhajan back in India squad

Mohammed Azharuddin will lead a 15-member squad to New Zealand.

The squad is only for the Tests, and sees the return of grizzled veteran Navjot Singh Sidhu and off spinner Harbhajan Singh for the tour that begins December 3rd.

India for the first time decided to follow the recent trend of selecting specialised squads for Tests and one day internationals. This line of thought accounts for the exit of Robin Singh and off spinner Nikhil Chopra, the find of the recent Coca Cola Cup triumph in Sharjah.

Another player to make a comeback is medium pacer Debashish Mohanty.

Chairman of the selection committee Ajit Wadekar told newspersons in Mumbai on Tuesday that the specialised one-day team formation, so well deployed by the Australians, will be selected during the third Test at Hamilton in the first week of January after consultation with the captain and with coach Anshuman Gaekwad.

Three players will return and two new faces will join the team, Wadekar said, at that stage.

The squad as named is: Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Ajay Jadeja (vice captain), Nayan Mongia (wicket keeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Debashish Mohanty and Harbajan Singh.

Before the team was selected, Azhar was re-appointed captain, in a five minute formality. This makes him India's longest serving captain, with a reign that started in 1990 with a brief break during 1996-'97.

BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele, while announcing Harbajan's name, said that the International Cricket Council had temporarily consented to allow the off spinner's return to top grade cricket after he got a clean chit from former England off spinner Fred Titmus.

However, there is no guarantee that Harbhajan is completely absolved, Lele said, adding that the ICC will continue to shadow his action in New Zealand and videos of his bowling will be circulated among the ICC panel of experts, and only after their approval will his reinstatement be final.

The return of Sidhu, who seems set to break the comeback record of Mohinder Amarnath, shows that the selectors believe there is a paucity of opening batsmen in the country. Or it could also be that the selectors were not not prepared to even include those who have been tried already, like Gagan Khoda, for a tour of a country that doesn't exactly brim with express bowlers.

Wadekar dropped a minor bombshell of sorts when he said that Azhar has been instructed not to use Nayan Mongia as a stop gap opener. He also announced that Ajay Jadeja will be the third opener, though the first choice partner for Sidhu will be VVS Laxman, on whom the captain has reposed continued confidence.

The selectors ignored coach Gaekwad's request for a second wicket-keeper, and Wadekar said that in an emergency Dravid will don the pads, but that otherwise, Mongia has been instructed to keep in all the three Tests and two first class matches.

Wadekar said that Nikhil Chopra, Gagan Khoda, Venkatapathy Raju, Nilesh Kulkarni, Rohan Gavaskar and Jatin Paranjpe had all been considered during the meeting.

Wadekar said Joshi stayed in the team as the third spinner because it was a unanimous conclusion that he could bat too. The fourth seamer was included as it was felt that the early season in Kiwiland will help seamers.

Wadekar also emphasised that Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, despite their superb record in one-dayers, will not not open in Tests. Which meant that Jadeja may not find a place in the eleven due to the long batting line of Sidhu, Laxman, Dravid, Azharuddin, Tendulkar and Ganguly.

The team will have a short-five day camp, split between the Wankhede Stadium and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, from November 28 before departing either from Mumbai or Delhi on December second midnight.

The first Test starts from December 18 at Dunedin and the second at Wellington from December 26.

UNI

Prem Panicker adds: An extended look at the personnel comprising the 15-member squad is not my intention here.

Rather, this interjection is merely to highlight two puzzling aspects of the exercise. And the first of these relates to Ajay Jadeja.

Item: Wadekar and his committee want to go in for the Australian model of separate sides for Tests and ODIs. Item: Wadekar and his committee have opted to bring back Sidhu, which takes care of one opener's slot. Item: Wadekar and his committee, at the urging of Azhar apparently, have named Laxman for the second slot. Item: Given the presence of Dravid, Azhar, Tendulkar and Ganguly, that stretches the batting to six, with Mongia making a seventh and leaving room only for four bowlers to win a Test with.

So the question that hits you with force is, what is Jadeja doing in this squad? And more importantly, what is the point of naming him vice captain?

Are we looking to set a world record of sorts here -- as the only side in history to have a non-playing vice captain?

The second puzzler relates to Harbajan Singh -- or more accurately, to Lele's comments about the young offie.

Just what does the BCCI secretary mean by saying that Bajju is not "completely absolved"?

The ICC said he chucks. The ICC said he should go to Titmus. The England offie -- the ICC's own problem solver, remember -- says there is no problem with Bajju's action, that it is merely an illusion caused by the fact that he tilts his head one way during his delivery stride.

In other words, bottomline, Bajju does not chuck. Says the ICC's own expert, may I reiterate.

So what the hell more do they need to "completely absolve" the lad?

He will be "shadowed", "videotaped", and the tapes will be circulated among the ICC's chucking committee?

Let's see how this reads, for logic -- the ICC's off spinning expert is Fred Titmus. He has given his verdict. But the ICC is not even satisfied with that -- its chucking panel (which, if I remember right, does not comprise a single off spinner anyway) will still sit in judgement.

Which raises the first question: if that is the case, why send the boy to Titmus in the first place? Simply so that an England ex-cricketer of debatable merit can earn some money?

Question two: even assuming the ICC has only given temporary clearance, where is the need for Lele to blab that out to all and sundry?

Apparently, international umpires don't call bowlers because they don't want to put pressure on them, and have thus left it to the match referees to do so.

Very thoughtful -- or is it? Does the ICC presume that there is no pressure in telling a bowler, who has been cleared by its own spin doctor, that he is still under trial? Does Lele need to add to the pressure by warning Bajju in public that he is under observation?

Would not a more beneficial way be for the board to have called Bajju aside, assured him of its total backing, revealed the contents of the ICC's latest diktat in private, and told him to just go out there and do what he normally does -- secure in the knowledge that extensive videographing at the Titmus school has shown no sign of controversy during his delivery -- and to let the rest take care of itself?

By thus announcing this to the public, Lele has guaranteed two things: one, that Bajju will come under enormous mental pressure when he comes on to bowl, and will be so busy trying to rectify the optical illusion that he won't have the time to concentrate on thinking batsmen out; and two, that the Kiwi press now has a convenient handle to hit the offie with, thus adding to the already unnecessary pressure build-up.

Just how much longer, I wonder, is the ICC going to be allowed to dictate to India's cricket bosses, such as they are? And how many more careers will be sacrificed on the altar of sycophancy?