The hows and whys of WC team selection

VVS Laxman broke a promise, today.

At the Wisden Cricketer of the Century Awards this year Laxman, whose epic 281 against Australia was picked as the best batting performance, accepted the award and promised to help the team win the World Cup in South Africa.

When the national selectors announced the 15-member squad -- comprising seven batsmen, five bowlers, two all-rounders and a wicket-keeper -- his name did not make the cut.

This morning, even before the national selectors assembled to select the team, we asked two former chairmen of selectors, Chandu Borde and Kishen Rungta, to pick their teams. Both, interestingly, picked the very same squad the national selectors announced later in the day -- barring VVS Laxman.

Borde, who was chairman of the selection committee before incumbent Brijesh Patel, picked Laxman ahead of Dinesh Mongia as the seventh specialist batsman, on the grounds that Mongia had failed to deliver on lively tracks.

"Laxman is a touch player. His timing is brilliant and he is a big match player. His fielding is a worry, but then the Indian fielding has never been of international standards anyway," said Borde.

Kishen Rungta also backed Laxman ahead of Mongia, arguing that barring Dravid and Tendulkar, he is the only organised, mature player. He however added that Laxman would not play in the first eleven unless Dravid or Tendulkar were injured.

Dinesh Mongia, meanwhile, is happy, in a quiet sort of way, about being picked. "I wanted to be in the team for the World Cup, but its sad that it had to come at Laxman's expense," he said.

Borde, meanwhile, said he would have been tempted to include one fresh fast bowler, either Rakesh Patel or Irfan Khan Pathan (Jr) in the side, but added that Ajit Agarkar's batting and fielding abilities tilted the balance in his favour.

"His bowling is touch and go; but that is the way it has been for the past few years -- inconsistent," Borde said.

Rungta for his part blamed bad captaincy as the reason for Agarkar's dismal performance with the ball.

"Agarkar is a wicket-taking bowler rather than a bowler who can tie down batsmen, he cuts the ball in to the right-handers. Despite that, Ganguly always gives him an off-side field instead of a leg-side field," Rungta argued.

Regarding the inclusion of Kumble ahead of Murli Kartik, Borde said the left arm spinner was predictable, whereas Kumble was unpredictable and could contain the batsmen when not taking wickets. Kartik, added Borde, was the better batsman of the two.

The national selection committee appears to be of one mind with Borde and Rungta on this question -- they picked Kumble as the second spin option, alongside Harbhajan Singh. Rather surprisingly, Kumble's economy rate overseas, of 4.17 runs per over, is better than at home, where it is 4.39. Kumble's strike rate, for the record, is 38 at home, and 44 away.    

Rungta argues that Kumble would be useful against all teams barring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, because all teams have brittle batting line-ups. Interestingly, Rungta believes India should play two spinners in the first eleven, as opposed to the general thinking of going in with three seamers and just one spinner.

Borde regretted that during his stint as chairman of selectors, there was a dearth of all-rounders in India.

"I would rather have all-rounders instead of specialist players in the team, but we are very weak in that department," said Borde, who was one of the selectors who picked the Cup-winning team of 1983.

The current committee has picked Ajit Agarkar and Sanjay Bangar for the all-rounders for the team. Ironically, Virender Sehwag was slotted in that category in the list of 19 players for the 1999 World Cup in England. He however failed to make it to the final list of 15.

While on that subject, six of the players who represented India in 1999 in England are part of the team to South Africa.

Borde and Rungta both picked an extra wicket keeper in Parthiv Patel – though Rungta added that Vijay Dahiya would have been a good choice, given his batting. 

Another former selector -- Ajit Wadekar, who led the committee that picked the team for the 1999 World Cup -- argues that he would have picked Tinu Yohannan ahead of Javagal Srinath.

Incidentally, the current selectors have nothing to say about the team they have picked -- as per the BCCI's new regulations, they won't talk.