da casino： The troublesome opening position is once more throwing up a few tantrums onthe eve of the second Test at Harare
Sankhya Krishnan14-Jun-2001The troublesome opening position is once more throwing up a few tantrums onthe eve of the second Test at Harare. Sadagoppan Ramesh’s position has beenupset due to a string of ordinary performances and a back ailment which hascropped up with an uncanny sense of timing. A fit Ramesh would indubitablyhave been India’s best candidate for the job. It is a little surprisingthat an opening stand of 71 in the Indian run chase at Bulawayo does notget sufficient consideration in the argument over Ramesh’s Test place. Thebottomline is the partnership and not the individual scores of the twobatsmen and indeed there have been few numerically superior opening standsby Indian pairs on tour in the last few years.To get to the last century opening stand in an away Test, one has to goback to Hamilton in 1993/94 when Sidhu and Mongia notched up 102. Theeffort by Messrs. Ramesh and Das does not compare unfavourably althoughthey had a fortuitous break when Das was given not out on nought aftergloving a catch down the leg side off Brighton Watambwa. Zimbabwe’s bowlingwas badly defanged but an early wicket would have still caused a flutter inthe Indian camp, given the devils from the past over chasing low fourth inningsscores. In the end, Ramesh’s back problem kept him out of contention,foisting another interim arrangement, something whichthe team seems to delight in. Hemang Badani is the latest appointee and goodluck to him.There is a causal relationship between the success of the opening pair andsuccess of the team; in the last 15 years, India has lost only one Test inwhich there has been a century stand for the first wicket. Opening is aspecialist job, yet the refusal to recognise that reality cannot beencouraging. The stark indifference is best symbolised by the lack ofeffort to groom another candidate who can step into the breach in caseinjury or poor form renders either of the present incumbents a non-starter.It cannot be true that Ramesh and Das are so far ahead of the competition.Akash Chopra, Gagan Khoda, Satyajit Parab and Jai P Yadav all hadsuccessful domestic seasons. Also waiting in the wings is 19-year-oldVinayak Ramesh Mane whose uncanny resemblance to another Mumbaikar whosemiddle name he shares is fast making him the hottest contender for the position.But a third opener was conspicuously absent from the preparatory camp inBangalore before the Zimbabwe tour. The reason trotted out that Ramesh andDas were expected to play both Tests in Zimbabwe was ludicrous to say theleast. The presence of Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid at Nos. 3-6did not after all prevent the selectors from naming a flotilla of middleorder batsmen amongst the probables.It hardly mattered if the places in the touring party were booked; theopportunity was there to expose a youngster to the methods of the new coachand to just imbibe the whole experience of being in the company of thenational team and it went abegging. Nor was the oversight a one-off. Nothird opener was selected for the gruelling camp in Chennai before theAustralian tour in February either, a fact that chairman of selectorsChandu Borde was actually unaware of. It beggars belief but Borde blithelyproclaimed at an impromptu press conference that the camp had a reserveopener. Of course he was unable to name the gentleman in question.