that Krishnamachari Srikkanth is also from Tamil Nadu?
Dhoni wanted Patel as second ‘keeper
TOI | 14 Feb 2009, 2349 hrs IST, Indranil Basu, TNN
NEW DELHI: The major bone of contention between skipper MS Dhoni and chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth during Friday’s selection committee meeting was over who to pick as second wicket-keeper in the 16-member squad for the New Zealand tour: Dinesh Karthik or Parthiv Patel?
The Gujarat wicketkeeper (Patel) should consider himself unlucky not to have made the cut for at least one of the three teams picked on Friday despite having the backing of the team and skipper MS Dhoni. Sources in the team management confirmed to TOI, however, that the selectors ‘insisted’ on picking Tamil Nadu’s Karthik instead.
“Parthiv was the team’s first choice as the second wicketkeeper and he did reasonably well in the last Test match he played in Sri Lanka. But Karthik made the cut because of the insistence of the selectors. Now, Parthiv will have to wait for a while and may come in the reckoning only after the IPL gets over,” a team source told TOI on Saturday.
Patel had a season no worse than Karthik’s.
He, as the wicketkeeper opening batsman has just scored a century for the winners West Zone in the Duleep Trophy finals.
Dhoni is a keeper himself, and must have judged Patel’s performance behind the stumps.
He is also the captain and must have a say on what requirements he has of his team.
I can think of no reason whatsoever why Patel could not be in any one of the squads. I believe he deserved a place as a second keeper in the test squad.
Instead, he has been completely shut out from competing at par with Karthik at the international level.
Regional bias?
Not from Dhoni,
he is from Jharkand; the other corner of India to Gujarat.
Srikkanth, in contrast, is from the same city as Dinesh Karthik.
My heart sinks,
for I find in this the traditional ugliness of regional bias in our selection process.
©hinaman
Comments:
2 Comments
I got these figures from http://thefreehit.com/if-only-they-were-there/
Patel:
131 in the Duleep Trophy final, the last time the selectors had a look
Has toured New Zealand in 2003
2008-09 first class season: 13 matches, 818 runs at 51.12, S/R 58.89, 2×100, 5×50 (HS: 206)
Skipper of a Ranji Team. Respect! So what if it is Gujarat? Led his team from Plate div to the Elite QFs
I am tempted to compare these numbers to those of Dinesh Karthik. So I give in to the temptation:
Dinesh Karthik:
2008-09 first class season: 11 matches, 1026 runs at 64.12, S/R 64.56, 5×100, 2×50 (HS: 213)
Skipper of a Ranji Team. RESPECT!
So as you can see,
Karthik’s numbers are better than Patel.
Karthik’s runs came against elite teams.
As for the argument that Patel performed better in last test , the last test was a loooong while back.
As far as regionalism goes, Patel plays for Chennai Superstars in IPL. There are no prizes to guess the captain of Chennai Superstars. And let me also remind you of a certain Manpreet Gony who was selected for Asia cup. Also check what IPL team Balaji plays for.
The above point was not made to show Dhoni is biased. It was to show how easy it is to accuse someone of regionalism. By saying regionalism, you just discounted all the hard work of Karthik for the last season. Don’t loose heart, be positive.
@ cric4all,
thanks for stopping by, and for your comment.
The report states that Karthik “made the cut because of the insistence of the selectors”. I have problems with that. I have high hopes for the team under Dhoni’s captaincy – but I do not see a successful team if the captain’s decisions are undermined by selectors.
I do not argue with your figures,
but numbers alone does not show the full picture in cricket.
Surely “respect” of being a skipper of a Ranji team, is not a criteria for national team selection.
My points are very simple,
1. Why did Dhoni prefer Patel?
This is not an armchair pundit’s call – this is a call by the team captain.
Dhoni, must have taken all numbers and factors into account – he considered Patel to be good enough to be first choice for the second keeper role – then there must be a justification in it.
You do realise, what you say in argument, you do so against Dhoni’s judgement.
2. There are three squads -
there is no reason why Patel could not be in one of them.
This to me seems like his competition has been blanketed out.
It also totally snubs Dhoni’s assessment – in the long term this can only be detrimental.
3. Indian cricket has always been a victim of regional bias – if this is due to the same regional bias – (it cannot be entirely ruled out) – then does that not discount the hard work put in by Patel?
In a process that is already been criticised for lack of transparency, such decisions are bound to raise further suspicions. Srikkant and Karthik both being from Chennai is bound to be seen as more than a coincidence.
Let us not confuse the issues with IPL team selections –
the IPL selections and our national team selections they are two entirely different processes.