Rotational dilemma!

Sehwag’s press conference after the 1^st ODI of the CB series had something unheard of if you are an Indian cricket follower viz. Rotation Policy; the easiest fall-to thought experiment when there is nothing else to discuss and debate on TV shows, newspapers and commentary boxes but we never had the players or the team management speak about this or execute such a thing. This has been spoken of and its relevance to Indian cricket ever since Australia attempted to execute this reasonable success during the period the team was at the pedestal. The responses to that statement from Sehwag have been mixed, with experts, media editors and fans/followers not converging completely to either approving it or disposing the policy. Where would you want to stand on this one? Do you belong to the set of people who believe that this is indeed very good or subscribe to the thought that such a thing won’t help the team in the long run?

So let us explore the subject and its relevance to the team in details. The men who form a part of this policy are Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag & Gautam Gambhir. The hypothesis proposes allowing the youngsters in the middle order (likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli & Suresh Raina) a complete run in the conditions which will host the World Cup of 2015. Sounds good prime facie and probably makes sense when you consider that barring Rohit, Virat & Raina haven’t played international cricket in Australia before this tour. Sehwag has just one fifty and averages merely 24.68 in Australia. Gambhir had a good time during the previous edition of the CB series in 2008 but hasn’t been amongst the runs for a while now. Tendulkar isn’t getting younger anyways and thus the rotation of the 3 seems logical. India will have to look to build a side that could successfully defend the title in 3 years time, and the process has to begin as soon as possible. This tour is a good point to begin drawing out that thought. India doesn’t have any tour lined-up to Australia before the next World Cup and thus the rotation policy could appear well-timed.

Is there more than what meets the eye? Well here is the flipside: the men who we were talking about are players who haven’t been in the best of form. Constant breaks in between won’t help them getting back into runs. India has to mark its priorities first; is the series win more important than planning for a tournament that is atleast 3 years away? The thought of giving the ‘youngsters’ a long rope is incomplete; Rohit, Virat, Raina & Gambhir have an experience of 74, 76, 137, 125 ODIs respectively. If the middle order is inexperienced then so is Gambhir and deserves as many games as those in the middle order. The whole basis for this idea is the assumption that the 3 faces in the middle order would occupy some positions in the batting line-up in 2015. It could be right, it would be ridiculous to question that but by making that assumption publicly you are allowing a feeling of hopelessness to creep in among the fringe members of the squad. Also this might make the 3 complacent not in terms of performance or effort to win, but in terms of vanquishing the feeling of insecurity in the team. The assumption has a certain counter example to prove a flaw; the Indian playing XI which played the first major away ODI tour after WC 2007 comprised of Ganguly, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni, Agarkar, Chawla, Zaheer, RP Singh. Most of you wouldn’t find it difficult to recollect the playing XI for the game on the 2^nd of April last year. On comparing you would conclude about 50% of the line-up was different between the 2 World Cups.

Thus far we have seen the subject in some details, how about looking at the relevance to the Indian team. Indian cricket team has traditionally taken decisions on the basis of public perception rather than on logic. The rotation policy has a thoughtful reason to back it but many would agree that the timing has a lot of relevance to the 8 test loss and the growing pressure on the seniors and the opening pair. The above example illustrates how World Cup winning teams are not necessarily built too early. Indian cricket is in doldrums at the moment: 8 consecutive away test losses, collective batting failures, Dhoni’s announcement of possible retirement, likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman & Zaheer in the fag ends of their career. The team management has a lot on its plate at the moment and the rotation policy appears an additional item to the already exaggerated list. If it works it would be wonderful for it would signal a young formidable middle-order in the offing, if it doesn’t questions will be raised of the policy rather than performances.