The Indian team for the West Indies tour has just been picked and it is heartening to see that the selectors haven?t gone by performances in the IPL. In fact, one of them, on condition of anonymity, even suggested that unless a player performs at the Ranji level his name can hardly be considered. To their credit, the selectors have rewarded performances at the domestic Ranji trophy level and have opted for hard- earned long-standing pedigree, rather than the flash in the pan IPL performance. Without taking any credit away from Rahul Sharma, Ambati Rayudu or Paul Valthaty, it is only just to suggest that the India cap costs much more than some standout performances at IPL?a tournament where the standard of cricket isn?t of the highest pedigree.
There are no more than five to six quality players in each team except maybe Mumbai or Chennai, teams which prudently utilised the option of retention, and the quality of play against the other half of any team cannot be the yardstick of an India call up. This reality, taken into account by the selectors (evident from their choice of players), throws up two fundamental questions: what, in the ultimate analysis, is the purpose of the IPL? Is it simply a commercial extravaganza or does it have a more fundamental role to play in developing our cricket?
From the evidence at hand, it must be suggested that the IPL is in dire need of innovation. If it nurtures any ambition to becoming the cricketing equivalent of the UEFA champions league, the standard of cricket has to improve. This implies the opening up of doors to more foreigners and ensuring that Indian players don?t simply make the cut because of their nationality, that is, by virtue of the fact that they are Indians. Most of us remember the day when Arsenal played an EPL match without a single British player in their ranks a few seasons earlier. High performance sport is about quality and protectionism will only contribute to diluting the standard of play in the IPL.
The other point that the selection throws up is inevitably the issue of priority. Why isn?t Mahendra Dhoni taking a break from the IPL if he needs some time off from cricket? Why does Zaheer Khan have to play all matches for RCB when the selectors are concerned about preserving his firepower for the more important assignments scheduled in the future?
Needless to say, India?s performance at the T-20 World Cup in the Caribbean in 2010 suffered much because of the IPL injuries suffered by Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, virtually ruling them out of the competition. While Zaheer did play, that he wasn?t fully fit was evident to one and all.
Sehwag, yet again, is out of action and is also in doubt for the England tour, a huge blow to India?s chances against one of the best test teams in the world. In Sehwag?s case, it is an old injury that now needs immediate surgery. And the period of rehabilitation, we are told, will be between six to eight weeks. Had Sehwag not played the IPL, there was little doubt that he would have been fit by mid-June, in time for the Test matches in the Caribbean. To go a step further, there would never have been any doubt over his participation in the Test match at Lords starting July 21.
Was it pressure from his franchise that forced Sehwag to play 11 games in the IPL? We will never know, but what we do know is that the world?s number one Test team will suffer in the absence of its biggest match winner.
As the fourth season of the IPL draws to a close, the BCCI clearly needs to sit back and analyse the viability of this competition. Just like its founder is now relegated to the history books and occasionally tries to stir up a storm on television, will the tournament continue to turn irrelevant or will it reinvent itself in the years to come? Unless it starts making contributions towards strengthening the edifice of the Indian game, as it had set out to do in the first place, fans, too, will soon lose patience with the IPL making investments in the league more and more unviable. The selection of the Indian team is an eye opener. Hope the powers that be are listening.
The writer is a sports historian