M S Dhoni recently proved all the critics wrong on his choice of some junior cricketers over seniors by leading a spectacular performance in last CB series. All credit goes to him and his team. But I am surprised why he becomes so colloquial on his choice. As a captain representing a nation, how can you publicly announce that your choice is age based and not performance based? If he wants to prove a point then how could you forget the incredible performance of test team led by one of the senior most cricketers and performed by all especially so called seniors? If you closely analyze performance of young cricketers even in CB series, I had few doubt on actual potential of young cricketers in batting line up. In most of the matches middle order lead by all new blood cricketers failed. Only few performances can be counted as great that is too by Sachin, Gambhir and Dhoni himself. None of them can be claimed new in the team.
No, I do not want to prove seniors better over young cricketers. But I want to understand what should be the Ideal team selection process? Should it be based on age or performance? Should it be based on experience or recent forms in domestic, first class or international cricket? Should it be solely governed by a captions choice or be institutionalized through a robust performance management system? In all of the above questions I would like to prefer the later choice.
SANTOSH SRIVASTAVA 