It is indeed a new situation for our team that there is more than one player for some of the positions. No matter how difficult it is to choose a team in such situations, I am happy that we are in such a state now. Now, players have to work hard to find a position, and even harder to retain it. I consider this as a very positive indication.
However, I am against making wholesale changes, more importantly, very much against trying too many youngsters at a time. Like many in this board have voiced, there is no evidence ? if the past is any indicator ? that the good performances against Zimbabwe A team can be maintained when we play the full West Indies team. It might just happen that Brian Lara and Co. will find all their lost form against us. So are we going to put the youngsters in and show them the door soon after they fail? My suggestion is to make the entry criterion very tough and provide all the support once in the team. That means don?t drop the first instance they fail.
The overall performance at different levels augurs well for us. Anyone who has followed Bangladesh cricket can realize that. But let us not get too carried away. For all practical purposes, all that counts is our win against Zimbabwe in the ODI, recently. We need a couple more of those. What impressed me in Zimbabwe ODIs is not only the lone victory, but also the way we fought in the other two games. The take home message is: if we keep on fighting every time, sometimes we will come out victorious.
It is interesting to read the list of probables that the members here suggest. I am not going to do that but suggest some points that may be considered: 1) have at least two genuine pace bowlers 2) probably 2 spinners (not a must) 3) few left handed batsmen, it creates problems even for the greatest bowlers when there is a combination of left and right handed batsmen 4) choose players who are fit and are willing to go the extra mile. At the highest level, in any profession, just the regular effort is simply not enough. An example of that is in the last 2 days 2 hard working players have hogged the cricketing headlines in Lahore. Who else but Yuvraj and Umar Gul? When the stars failed they raised their hands and did the job. |