The wise men (a certain Mr. Mohinder Amarnath will never agree) seem to have missed a very important trick while selecting replacements for the South Africa tour.
At any given point in time, the best team should take the field in order to be competitive.
With Zaheer Khan injured lets look at the options available for the selectors:
1) RP Singh
2) Munaf Patel
3) Ajit Agarkar
4) Pankaj Singh
5) Abhimanyu Mithun
6) VRV Singh
7) Ashish Nehra (could've have been persuaded to play for one test match)
With an 'experienced' bench strength like that, the powers that be chose to blood a rank newcomer in Jaidev Unadkat.
Feel sorry for the youngster, because if he fails, he'll never make it to the team again.
A classic example of such a situation is Chris Tremlett of England. With Stuart Broad injured, the selectors went for a bowler, who hasn't played in the national side for the past 3 yrs, but has represented the country before and is experienced.
Look at the result.
Tremlett has taken 8 wickets with a fifer in the second.
Cut to Centurion where Jaidev is thrown in as a last minute replacement. He bowls at 120-125 kmph, which is cannon fodder for the South African's as they're already used to much more faster pace (at the nets). Can't swing the ball & comes a cropper on Day Two, going at 5 runs an over.
With Sreesanth looking completely out of sorts, India's playing the test match with only one fast bowler & one spinner (who might become a frontline batsman once the Fab 4 retire).
All talk & actions seem to be focussed only on winning the World Cup with no thought being given to Test matches.
Half the team playing one dayers is not even on the reserves list for the Test side.
The cupboard's creaking and the signs are pretty ominous.
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