Though one should not read too much into one defeat against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, the defeat is a pointer to certain basic fault lines in the current Indian Side.
True, we went in without Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer. Still, one needs to question the wisdom of packing the team with the so called 'aggressive' batsmen for the one day team. Rahul Dravid, till he was tragically run out by Harbhajan, did maintain the chase and remember India at that stage wanted only 67 from 49 balls.
This brings to question as to why we are not going in for conventional batsmen, but tend to pack the side with 'hitters'. There is hardly anyone who can build an innings barring Rahul and Sachin. And Rahul is just back from a hibernation. Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit and now Kohli all sustain their place in the team by playing one brilliant innings out of 5. Maybe we can give an exemption for Yuvraj, but then he had more chances than what he actually deserved at one point in his career. Opportunities denied to others. Whatever happened to S.Badrinath? Here is a batsmen who was with the team and played a match winning cameo last time (perhaps the only time he was given a decent chance). We didnt give him opportunities when he was scoring runs by the ton. Now, it could just be another case of a bright talent poorly handled. Or is it something to do with Dhoni and Badri not getting along well? There are rumours to that effect floating around for a while. M Vijay is another lovely stroke player opener who again did well when he was selected for the Test Team. Pushing Vijay up with Gambhir with SRT, Dravid, Badri and Dhoni to follow would have been ideal. Then there is the strange case of Mohd. Kaif. We have invested so much in Kaif that surely he deserves another look in. In fact any one is better than Raina, a much pampered blue eyed boy of Indian Cricket along with Rohit Sharma. And Dinesh Karthik has no place in the national team as a pure batsman nor does Yusuf Pathan. Pray tell me when did Yusuf Pathan score a decent 50 last time around in a one day match and he really released the pressure by bowling loosely when Pakistan were 130 for 3.
Dhoni has to understand that he needs 5 quality bowlers to win matches. Harbhajan is proving to be a liability. True, he took a fiver in the final against Srilanka, but that was after donkeys years. Anyone who is a threat to Harbhajan is quickly sidelined. It happened to Kumble, Murali Karthik and now Pragyan Ojha. Ojha was magnificiently attacking when he bowled last for India, but he is in the dust bin now. We need an away spinner, either Ojha or Amit Mishra, the big hearted leg spinner. Definitely, Sehwag and Yuvraj are not the answers to the 5th bowlers slot, not Yusuf Pathan. One might argue that we need an extra batsmen. For what? The old adage that "if 5 plus the wicket keeper batsman cannot win matches then the extra batsman is not going to" holds good.
Now comes the saddest part of the story. The much acclaimed pace attack of India. What Praveen Kumar is doing in that line up, only the selectors and Dhoni can tell. He, with Karthik in the 14 has severely limited Indias options should they want a change. Nehra has been a yo-yo. Brilliant one day but leaks runs, as does RP Singh. Dhonis brain wave to bowl the quickest bowler Ishant as first change is a clanger, to say the least Your fastest bowler should bowl first up- there is no question about it. And what happened to Sreesanth? No one in their right mind can say Praveen Kumar or even Nehra is a better option than Sreesanth. True, his antics are atrocious. But that is something that should be handled easily by the bloated support staff. If they cant do some simple man management, then they should not be there in the first place, and we have a sports psychologist to boot. It was clear that Sreesanth will never be picked for India again after Harbhajan slapped him, for it is well known in Indian circles that Harbhajan and Sachin are great chums and between them they have ensured Sreesanth is kept out. Sreesanth is a rare talent, that has been handled badly by himself, the team and the board. It is likely he will end up like Karthik, Maninder, Sadanand Viswanath and Sivaramakrishnan - all mavericks.
If Sehwag and Yuvi are fit, then the team should be
Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Ishanth, Ojha and Harbhajan, with back up in Badri, Kaif, Vijay, R P Singh and Amit Mishra
In their absence, the team should be
Vijay, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Badri, Dhoni, Ishanth, Sreesanth, Ojha, Harbhajan and R P Singh - with Rohit Sharma (he is a wonderful talent but has a lousy attitude), Kaif, Mishra and Nehra as back up
