Sometimes, I sympathies with the Indian Cricket Team Selectors.
Why?
As they have the toughest job to select the playing eleven. I believe it, selecting 15 out of a billion is just way too tough. (Excuse the exaggeration)
India and Cricket have had the “all time high” days, but they are just getting higher and higher. Records broken, far away lands conquered. Some of them dominated, with roars and right! Uff, this team and the coming youngsters are just on another level.
Just look at the fast bowling pack, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and others…The list is longer. And these are just match winners, in other teams each of these would play 100 Tests.
And let us just not go in-depth of the spin bowling unit, Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep & Chahal. How many places for spinners in a team, one or two? But the options, just too many.
You get me, it is just too hard on the selectors, when we have so much depth & first team quality.
Take the Oval Test for example…
Going into the 4th Test, Indian team had just lost the 3rd test with an innings and 76 runs. And we lost, Shami and Ishant Sharma. Shami took 4 wickets of the 10 possible of England.
A reason for worry, No! India got Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Could easily say, Ishant with 100+test and Shami with his form, the two new names are just not par. But you see, Shardul was the difference between India & England in the 4th Test. While Umesh took 6 of the possible 20 wickets. Let me remind you, he took the scalp of Joe Root!
Who in the World, would have the bench as strong as this, not even the City’s Coach, Pep Guardiola. (That’s 1B down the drain, huh!)
I am sure, you remember that our Team B won against the Srilanka team, and that team was full of superstars too. Not just the youngsters. But it was still the Team B.
Let alone selecting the 15, I would be very anxious to select 11 out of 15 too.
I would not like to be on that selector seat.
Well, finally just a note for us all fans. Gone are the days of our players playing long careers. A few matches and it is over. Competition is that high, the bar is that high. You duck a few times and you ain’t playing anymore.
We would be seeing some 4-5 years, peak careers of our favourite players. And hate the team management for not selecting our favourite player. Some players debuting in the late twenties or early thirties.
I guess, we have reached the peak Australia of late 1990s & early 2000s. Dominating, conquering & fearless in all the aspects.