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Double whammy

The team bound for Kuala Lumpur will not be paid a single penny -- no match fees, no sponsor money -- by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, simply because this is an Indian Olympic Association operation. Pressed on the point, J Y Lele, the BCCI secretary, said that during the next AGM, the Board might consider giving the team members some monetary remuneration on an ad hoc basis.

Covering Indian cricket -- especially Indian team selection -- is guaranteed to give you your fair share, and more, of weird experiences.

But there's been, for me, none weirder than today's. Just around noon, the five national selectors made their way to the first floor office of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary Ashok Khumbhat, the venue for their meeting. And I went back out onto the ground, where the Indian players were going through their paces under the eyes of Bobby Simpson and Anshuman Gaekwad.

A few minutes later, a senior player, who has been out of the side for a while now, strolls up and oh so casually, he goes, "So? Any idea where I am going, Toronto or Kuala Lumpur?" (The reason why the question was asked of me was pretty obvious -- I had, just prior to that, been sitting in the pavilion chatting with four of the five selectors, while they waited for Ajit Wadekar to put in a tardy appearance.)

Not "Am I in the side?," mind you. With a total bank of 30 players and 28 of them sure to find a place in one team or the other, that question was irrelevant. The big one, which everyone wanted to know, was -- where am I going?

Since late yesterday, when inside buzz held that Sachin Tendulkar would go to Kuala Lumpur, there has been, within the ranks of the India probables, only one subject of conversation -- the likely composition of the two teams.

And that, in turn, is the reason why an in-depth analysis of the teams as picked is rendered pretty much irrelevant -- what needs analysing is the compulsions the Board found itself in.

Said circumstances -- given the presence of a tours and schedules committee designed just to prevent this very thing -- was, quite simply, a monumental goof-up. One that saw the Indian team scheduled to play in two places at one and the same time.

There is now little doubt that the BCCI had, initially, no intention of sending a team to Kuala Lumpur -- or, at best, sending a rag-tag outfit scraped together at the last minute. This was confirmed for us off the record by a selector, and indirectly on record, by Kishen Rungta,, chairman of the selectors.

This is what he said, during his press briefing today: "Once it was decided that we were going to pick two teams, eight more probables were added to the shortlist of 22..."

"Once it was decided," please note.

In a blatant power play, it was the IOA that upped the ante, accusing the Board of being greedy for money, of not wanting to put the interests of the country first -- rare sentiments, you will admit, for the IOA to hold. But they got what they were after -- in two weeks, they got more publicity than in the previous two decades of their existence, so hey, what the hell, right?

Right. And once the IOA made all that noise about accepting only the best possible combo (which reminds me, I wonder if Messrs Suresh Kalmadi and Randhir Singh are happy now?), the Board had no option but to split a winning combine, to produce what they euphemistically termed "two teams of equal strength".

Lele, in the press briefing this afternoon, categorically said there was no pressure either from the government or the IOA, that it was the Board's own decision to send equal strength teams, that the intention was to win both the Sahara Cup and the Commonwealth Games gold.

"We've produced Cup-winning teams. You wait and see, now we will give you a medal-winning team!" This, to me from South Zone selector Shivlal Yadav, bare moments before the selectors went up for their meeting.

But despite the public bravado, Board officials and selectors both indicated, in private, they were supremely unhappy with the corner they had been painted into. "Left to ourselves," said one of the selectors, shortly before the exercise was to begin, "We would pick the best possible combination for the Sahara Cup and let the young hopefuls go to Kuala Lumpur and prove their worth."

That, in fact, remained the best possible option for the Board -- after all, cricket is going to be played for just this one time, at the Games. The founder of the Commonwealth is not sending a proper team. Neither is Pakistan, or South Africa, while the West Indies is bifurcated. Australia is sending a full strength side -- but only because it is off-season there, and they have no other commitments.

So the sensible ploy remained to send the best team to Toronto -- but that would have meant more press conferences by Kalmadi and Singh, more accusations that the Board was greedy. And the BCCI, conscious above all of its public image, wasn't having that.

So we have two teams. Period.

Look, first, at the one to Toronto. Which, in probable batting order, reads: Saurav Ganguly (vice-captain), Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin (captain), Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia (wicketkeeper), Ajit Agarkar, Sunil Joshi, Javagal Srinath, Sairaj Bahutule and Venkatesh Prasad, with Sanjay Raul, Jatin Paranjpe and Jyothi Yadav comprising the bench.

The first thing that strikes you is that the pace attack is the strongest one fielded by India in recent times, with Srinath, Prasad and Agarkar teaming up for the first time, and Ganguly to fill in with seam up stuff. Equally, it strikes you that the spin combo has never been weaker -- Joshi and Bahutule.

"We were looking at the fact that Toronto is a seamer's track," was Rungta's explanation. "Just as we sent the best spinners to Kuala Lumpur, which is reported to provide turning tracks."

Fair enough. The batting, meanwhile, has a bit of an iffy look to it. Sidhu gets a recall by default, the selectors preferring his experience to the risk of putting some kid on the make in the hot spot and adding to the pressure on Saurav to get quick runs at the top of the tree. For most of the duration of the camp, Sidhu has been hobbling around, unable to do much more than hit slip catches for those who want them -- his problem being blisters on the foot. The upside of it is that he is on the mend and should be fit by September 12, when India plays its first game at Toronto. The downside is that he is woefully short on practice.

For Dravid, this is it -- opportunity for either vindication of his abilities, or damnation for a long, long time to come. Given that conditions in Toronto will be rather akin to what the team will encounter, come May 1999, in England, his performance could be the one most keenly watched.

Azhar at four gives the team muscle, and a very sound foot on the accelerator, in the middle. But this team will miss the finishing kick down the straight, which the likes of Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh provide so well. And this could be crucial, given that in Toronto, with the ball seaming around all day long, run-making is not going to be as easy as on sub-continental tracks, which in turn makes a good finish, in the slog, essential.

Look at the bright side, though -- as Rungta in fact said to me. Besides Dravid, here is the ideal platform for a certain Ajit Agarkar to come good with the bat, and make a bid for the all-rounder status that he is capable of. Coach Gaekwad, in a casual chat, mentioned that he had categorically told Agarkar that he should stop wasting his batting talents, and that here on in, the young quick bowler was expected to deliver with the bat as well. Will he is one of the interesting questions the Sahara Cup will answer.

And oh yes -- the promotion to VC of Saurav Ganguly, which I frankly would tend to applaud. There is going to be enormous pressure on the opening combo to come good, in the absence of Tendulkar -- the promotion could be just the fillip Saurav needs to really fire at the top, since the onus of quick run-making is going to be on him. (By way of sidelight, we've got probably the two laziest runners in between wickets going out to open!)

Then there is the Kuala Lumpur side, again in probable batting order: Sachin Tendulkar, Gagan Khoda, V V S Laxman, Ajay Jadeja (captain), Robin Singh, M S K Prasad (wicketkeeper), Anil Kumble (vice-captain), Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh and Debashish Mohanty and Paras Mhambrey, with Rohan Gavaskar, Nikhil Chopra and Amey Khurasia making up the bench.

Since the key encounter is going to be the one against Australia (win that, and you are through to the quarters from which point you don't have a single full strength team to face), it is interesting to look at the composition of the side in light of just that one opponent, Australia.

For Sachin, it is another battle against an enemy he has grown rather fond of, of late. But Gagan Khoda opening against Glenn McGrath? That's going to be an interesting one -- and the danger here is that even if Khoda hangs in there, the run rate could slow down, compelling Sachin to take risks he would otherwise eschew.

Then there is Laxman at number three -- a huge responsibility, for someone yet to cement his place in the playing eleven. Against Australia, there is almost the certainty of an early wicket, what is more, so Laxman's burden just gets upped a bit right there.

The hugely experienced Jadeja and Robin comprise the middle, and that -- with the fact that M S K Prasad can bat a bit -- is a plus.

Offset that, though, by the fact that in Mhambrey and Mohanty, we have a weak opening attack. Unless the tour management decides to beef up the batting by adding either Rohan Gavaskar or Khurasia to the starting line-up, using Robin Singh as the second opening bowler -- which, of course, makes the new ball "attack" even weaker.

Spin looks strong, with Harbhajan in all probability being the one to be brought on before the end of the first 15 overs, and Kumble and Sanghvi to contain in the middle. But against that, the Ozzies, especially in ODIs, are no duds against spin, so overall, what we are looking at is one hell of a weak bowling line-up.

Pity, that, and it could well prove the difference between qualifying for the quarters, and making an early exit from the tournament.

Spare a thought, too, for Syed Saba Karim who, with 28 spots on offer, finds himself out in the cold. "Since both the Sahara Cup and the Commonwealth Games are short tournaments, we can take only one wicket-keeper per side. Nayan (Mongia) was a sure choice for one team, so the real choice was between Saba and M S K Prasad and we thought Prasad was the better batsman," Rungta said, of the rationale behind the choice.

Again, a pity -- not so long ago, Saba Karim was the first choice keeper, and he sure didn't blot any copybooks that I could see.

Asked in the press briefing whether they were happy to split the side up in this fashion, Lele (and do remember he was speaking on record here) said, "There were no outside compulsions on us to do what we have done. Both are prestigious tournaments and we are looking at winning both."

And Rungta? "It is lucky we have so many talented players, and are able to field two strong teams at the same time. Besides, it helps the selectors to, in one shot, view and assess the performance at the highest level of no less than 28 players."

But why not send the best possible outfit to Toronto, and the other players -- who, Rungta himself admits, are talented -- to KL? Perhaps if he were talking off record, Rungta would have said, "Because the IOA is a bloody pig-headed bunch, and are sure to kick up a hell of a stink!"

But this is on record, before a crowd of about 40 mediapersons, not to mention at least half a dozen television cameras. So: "Ideally, you should mix young talent with experience -- youngsters alone, in one team, will be out of their depth, but with experienced players like Tendulkar, Jadeja, Robin, and Kumble to guide them, they will do very well."

Oh well. It's like the saying goes: when life hands you a lemon, don't make a sour face -- make lemonade, instead!