There is an interesting anecdote about Parthiv Patel from the early days of his career. Back in 2004, in India’s last Test match of their Australia tour, captain Steve Waugh was playing his final Test. As the Australian former skipper recounted in his autobiography Out of My Comfort Zone, the baby-faced Patel, then just 18, could not resist taking a sly dig at Waugh, asking him to “finish it off with a slog-sweep”. The veteran Waugh shot back, “Listen, mate, how about showing a bit of respect? When I played my first Test, you were still running around in nappies.”
Ironically enough, the tables have been turned on Patel, with the selectors calling him up in place of the injured Wriddhiman Saha for the third Test in Mohali, which begins on Saturday. You can well imagine England’s similarly baby-faced 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed making the same sledge to the now 31-year-old Patel. But will Patel do a Waugh and reply in the same vein? He should, because once Wriddhiman Saha returns, it is unlikely that Patel will be given an extended run. In fact, there are question marks over why he has been picked in the first place.
Pant is a run machine right now
Is that a harsh statement to make? His set of scores in the ongoing Ranji Trophy read: 49, 139 not out, 60, 21, 61, 53 and 20. Which is not bad. But compare it to this set of scores. 117, 135, 60, 24, 9, 308 and 146. That 135 came off 67 balls, the 100 off 48 making it the fastest century in Ranji Trophy history. That 308 was scored off only 326 balls. These are incredible scores and it makes it obvious that Delhi’s Rishabh Pant is in the form of his life.
The 19-year-old Pant is not the only India domestic wicket-keeper in good form. There are others as well. Madhya Pradesh’s Naman Ojha has been in the fringes of the Indian team for quite a while now and even played a Test in Saha’s absence in Sri Lanka last year. Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Karthik, much like Saha, brings experience to the table, having played more than 90 international matches for India. With four half-centuries and a 163 in his last five matches, he is also in form. Then there is also Aditya Tare, Mumbai’s keeper who has remained a solid fixture in their team.
And in case the new MSK Prasad-led selection panel wanted to blood youngsters, they had other options besides Pant as well. Kerala’s Sanju Samson has been highly talked about for the last few years, even inviting praise from none less than Rahul Dravid. India’s captain at the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh this year, Ishan Kishan, has just scored 273 and 136 in his previous two Ranji encounters.
Is there a lack of planning?
The point is, with so many promising contenders in Indian domestic cricket right now, it is difficult to understand how Patel has managed to edge ahead. An unnamed BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo the fact that Patel was a left-hander went in his favour. “Being a left-hand bat – England have a leg-spinner and a left-arm spinner in Adil Rashid and Zafar Ansari. So, a left-hander will add more to the team,” said the official.
And while it may sound laughable – there is also a logistical issue as well. A PTI report stated that Pant would only be able to reach Mohali, the venue for the third Test by Friday evening, since he is currently playing for Delhi in their Ranji encounter against Rajasthan in Kerala’s Wayanad. That match is only scheduled to get over on Thursday.
But then, that begs the question: should not at least a reserve wicket-keeper been named for the series in advance? According to the ESPNcricinfo report, the selectors felt it was too early to hand Pant a debut. Yes, you read that right. In a home Test series where India are leading, it was found to be too early to hand out a debut to a promising youngster, who is in the form of his life. It was England who used to be accused of such conservative thinking earlier. Considering that they plumped for the 19-year-old Hameed in this series who has, so far, come out with a sterling reputation, India have picked up England’s tab.
Inexplicable selection calls
This aversion towards trying out new talent is not new. In the New Zealand series, Gautam Gambhir was plucked out of the wilderness to make a return to international cricket after two years. But despite a battling half-century in the third Test of that series in Indore, the comeback did not go too well. Gambhir failed in the first Test against England in Rajkot and was dropped from the team in the second Test, with KL Rahul returning. Now, he has been unceremoniously thrown out of the team again. So much for giving people an extended run.
Then, around the same time last year, the previous selection panel decided to bring back Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra back to the Indian Twenty20 squad. The Nehra experiment went well, almost. He became a key strike bowler for India in their Asia Cup and World Twenty20 campaigns, but got injured during the Indian Premier League season later and has not played since. Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, looked a shadow of his former devastating self and did not make the team for India’s T20Is against West Indies in the United States.
Surely, the best time to try out new talent for India, especially in the keeping department, is now? The team is largely settled and doing well and are in the middle of a big home season. At 32, Saha is also not the future and at 31, nor is Patel. Why not give these immensely talented players a go at the big stage and see how they turn out? Because, by picking Parthiv Patel as replacement for Saha, the selectors are sending out a message that this is the best option India have. In a day and age when England have Jonny Bairstow and South Africa have Quinton de Kock, that is now a great portent.