Does India's tour of Bangladesh devalue the India cap?
The next time the BCCI promises the BCB that they’ll tour, the BCB better get some sort of guarantee in writing that the team sent will be the real deal.
The tour is a bit like the BCB’s position in world cricket – an afterthought. As an ardent fan, you know that India is scheduled to play three ODI games, but even somebody as allergic as me to a sport involving grown men running around trying to shoot a piece of inflated leather into a net couldn’t be bothered to watch this series. I doubt the average fan would feel any different even if the football World Cup was not taking place.
As it turns out, we almost didn’t have to make that decision. No Indian broadcaster had bought the rights to the tour right up to the 11th hour, which was a strange thing in itself, as the first thing they teach you in broadcasting school is to buy the rights to any cricketing contest involving the Indian national team.
I don’t care. The broadcasters don’t, or didn’t, care. I presume you don’t care. To what can we attribute this callousness, this frivolity, this total disregard for Bangladesh’s feelings? For the most part, the team selected.
It isn’t the Indian National Team. Well, it is officially. They will wear the uniform. And those watching will continuously be told that it is indeed the Indian national team. I believe that is the USP which BCB will use while selling tickets. But the Indian National Team will be at home. The team that has been sent isn’t a close substitute, or a poor substitute. It is India A at best, a collection of one cap wonders and international careers that at worst, were lucky to progress as far as they did.
As Indian fans we will be robbed of pet peeves that have made watching India play the experience that it is. There will be no opportunity to deride Rohit Sharma for no other reason than the fact that he is Rohit Sharma. There will be no criticism of Dhoni’s tactics and pointing at Virat Kohli with pride. There will be no shouting at the bowlers for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Wait, that might still just happen.
Instead, those following the games will get to criticize the tactics of Suresh Raina. At first glance it is clear why he was selected to captain the team; he is the most experienced player, highest run getter and comes high on the wicket-taking totem pole with a grand total of 25 wickets. Most importantly, he is mentally fresh, having missed India’s last ODI assignment to prepare for this due to poor form.
That brings me to an important question: does this tour devalue the India cap? Representing your country, or someone else’s in England’s case, is something that has to be earned and cherished. You must be deserving of the opportunity. I have no doubt that the players selected will cherish every moment of the experience. I also do not question their work ethic. I do, however, question whether they deserve to represent India. It is not for want of desire, hard work or national pride, but one does wonder how many of them would have made the cut if a full strength team had been selected.
I realize that I am being harsh. But even if India thrash Bangladesh within an inch of their international status, even if the batsmen score centuries for fun and the bowlers run through Bangladesh like a knife through butter, to what end would it all be? Does any of it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Are these men really going to replace the core of our national team? The answer is one that the BCB has gotten used to hearing every time they ask the BCCI if they can come over to play some Test matches: NO.
As for the players selected, it is a ‘damned if they do, damned if they don’t’ situation. They will be castigated for not scoring under the guise of ‘It’s Bangladesh!’, and all performances will be undermined by ‘It’s Bangladesh!’. At worst, they face cricketing exile, and at best, they get on to the bench, perhaps a tougher place to break out of than Alcatraz.
Just ask Manoj Tiwary. He sat on the bench for so long that when he was finally selected, many of us had to check the date and team sheet a couple of times to make sure that we weren’t the victims of some cruel practical joke. He scored consistently, was benched again for no apparent reason, got injured, fell out of contention and now finds himself part of the touring party. In the same period of time, Viscount Vinay Kumar has popped in and out of the team like a particularly annoying rash, and once again finds himself with the opportunity to lower the bar for pace bowling expectations, or in his words, ‘lead the attack’.
Perhaps that is what each member of the team will realize after this tour. As a cricketer on the fringes of the national team there are two categories that the selectors could lump you into – the Tiwary club, where you do not get the chances you deserve despite not doing anything wrong, or that of the Viscount where you are continuously selected despite having little or no ability.
If you aren’t good enough to be a part of the best possible national team, if your selection has come about not due to your ability but the absence of more gifted players, that selection devalues the India cap. They may have been in or around the team, but the fact remains that they were only selected because no less than eight first choice players were rested.
The cricketing culture of India deserves a national team that really is a collection of the best selectable players, not a crew of what-ifs and never-going-to-happens.
I guess we can add the BCCI and selectors to the list of people who don’t care.