The most anticipated and critically important team selection meeting didn’t produce surprises. Scope for that was reduced by increasing the squad strength to 18. Leaving out Mohammed Shami and the message it sends across was a highlight. Otherwise, Abhimanyu Easwaran finding a place was perhaps the only noteworthy announcement in terms of surprises.
As expected, Shubman Gill’s side is thin on the experience of playing in England. Despite vacancies, there were not many options and the selectors headed by Ajit Agarkar went along predicted lines. There are six options for the top four slots and choosing the batting order will be a headache. Asked about it, Agarkar said that this call will be taken by the captain and ‘GG’, the head coach.
Of the nine batters including the two wicketkeepers and Nitish Kumar Reddy, three have played Test cricket in the country of the game’s origin, where Indians have traditionally found it difficult to cope with the swing and movement, barring a few exceptions over 90-plus years. Gill himself is yet to succeed there, but that was known. The selectors did what they could. It’s up to the players now.
There will be talk about the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan. They were contenders, but nobody in the current scenario was indispensable. It’s difficult to build a case for an individual saying here is ‘the man’. When the team is picked in such circumstances, some miss out. The same applies to Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana and others. There is nothing to claim that their presence was going to make a telling difference.
One can ask why three spinners. Firstly, there are 18 players. Second, it’s effectively a side containing two batters who bowl spin and a specialist in Kuldeep Yadav. The significant point in the selection of bowlers is the omission of Shami. Although he is among India’s all-time greats and one of the best of his generation in international cricket, the time had to come to look beyond. If this is the end of his career, it’s news. Not exactly a surprise.
With as many as seven players from the Test squad set to play for India A in two first-class games against England Lions before the big series, the new team management will keep an eye on how they respond to those conditions. Gill and Sai Sudharsan will join them for the second game and get a chance to get out of the T20 mode.
It’s going to be a tough series, if not gruelling. But again, there is nothing new about it. Everybody knew that more or less the same set of players would travel and that Jasprit Bumrah would not be available for the full grind due to fitness issues. India have to fight with what they have. Teams or individuals with nothing to lose have often turned out to be dangerous in sports.