TOUGH RACE
| Date :23-Sep-2019 |
WITH Rishabh Pant unable to restrain his reckless streak in batting, suggestions are being made to look beyond Mahendra Singh Dhoni and give chance to some promising youngsters. While Chairman of the selection committee MSK Prasad advocates patience with Pant, for batting great Sunil Gavaskar Rishabh Pant remains his first choice given his tremendous batting talent. But if it comes to looking for an alternative, his choice falls on Sanju Samson. He, however, is of the firm opinion of looking beyond MS Dhoni.
This is obviously in the light of Dhoni himself not letting his mind known and the selection committee still not willing to write him off in view of Pant’s repeated failure despite being given several chances. Thus it is a tough race for Pant and those who are waiting in the wings for their chance to come and don the national colours. It is not just the wicket-keeping department that is witnessing a tough race. There are other spots in the batting order too that appear to be up for grab. Former skipper Sourav Ganguly has said that K. L. Rahul will be kept on his toes by highly talented batsmen like Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey as they grabbed the opportunities that came their way with both hands very recently during the tour of West Indies while K. L.Rahul was overlooked for the tour as he has been rather inconsistent with his form. That made the opening slot vulnerable. With faith being reposed in Rohit Sharma as an opener in Test cricket partnering Shikhar Dhawan KL Rahul’s place in the team gets jeopardised.
This happened with another talented opener Murali Vijay. He has almost gone out of reckoning now. With highly talented players coming up and getting umpteen number of opportunities at higher level, a countrywide choice has become available to the national selectors. A plethora of domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Deodhar Trophy etc and the IPL have opened the field wide. In fact the IPL has done a world of good for domestic cricketers, not only because they have become eligible for hefty incomes, but also because their exposure to international talent has added to their enrichment as cricketers. That is why even at junior level India can boast of talent of international standing.
It is this happy situation that has led to intense competition among domestic cricketers for a place in the national team in all the departments of the game. If batsmen are vying for each place in the team so are bowlers, whether fast bowlers or spinners. Hence no cricketer in the Indian team can take his place for granted. Every one has to strive hard to retain his place. Probably Rishabh Pant must have realised this by now.