Dravid's exclusion raises questions on selection policy
Fact is that the national selectors themselves can't justify Dravid's exclusion. After impressive performances for Royal Challengers in IPL-2 and the failure of India's youngsters, Dravid earned a call-up for Sri Lanka and South Africa tours.
NICKNAMED AS the ‘Wall’, Rahul Dravid has been dropped from the one-day team once again by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). After having been recalled for two tournaments, the veteran cricketer is now at the receiving end due to sheer negligence of the national selection committee. Dravid’s exclusion from the Indian team for the upcoming ODI series against Australia is being criticised by cricket lovers as well as experts.
Fact is that, the national selectors themselves can’t justify Dravid’s exclusion. After impressive performances for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL-2 and the failure of India's youngsters, Dravid earned a surprising call-up in August 2009 for the Compaq Cup tri-series in Sri Lanka and the subsequent Champions Trophy in South Africa.
Since his latest comeback to the ODI team of India, Dravid has scored 14, 47, 39, 76 and 4 in five innings; aggregating 180 runs at an average of 36.00. The figures would certainly put him as one of most consistent performers in Indian cricket team with the bat in the early part of the 2009-10 season, but that wasn’t good enough for the national selection committee.
Unfortunately, the selectors also refused to acknowledge Dravid’s contribution, as he continued to put the team's interests ahead of his own. He opened the batting in the Compaq Cup final, and scored 39 apart from also being involved in a 95-runs partnership for the first wicket.
In the Champions Trophy, Dravid was the only batsman apart from Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina, to shine in India's unsuccessful run chase against Pakistan. Against West Indies, Dravid was run out, but not because of his fault.
Over the years, Dravid has been dropped from team India many times. Most importantly, Dravid exclusion was not because of his fault, but with the reasoning being it is in the best interests of the team. Of course, Dravid was a slow scorer in the initial part of his one-day internationals career, but he worked on that aspect of his batting, and staged a comeback to team India.
Now coming back to selectors’ approach, the decision to retain Ishant Sharma in the team despite his poor performances with the ball in recent months is baffling. Further, why the selectors deemed it fit to announce the squad only for the first two matches and not the entire series, is another unsolved mystery. In fact, presence of Dravid in the batting order is vital, in that he shores up one end, while allowing the hitters in the team to bat around him.
On the whole, the decision of the selection committee sends a message that Dravid will be considered only, when the conditions don’t suit the batting styles of the young guns in the team. This is certainly not the manner in which a great player and a team man like Dravid is treated by the selectors. Last but not the least, we can’t deny the possibilities that in reaction to step-attitude of selectors Dravid can also announce his retirement in hurry like Sourav Ganguly.
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