During the second ODI, Javagal Srinath had an interesting statistic to share with fellow commentator, Ian Botham. In the last 5 series, India has gone in with 8 (or was it 9?) different opening combinations.
In the latest spin on this situation, Gambhir finds himself out in cold, while the welcome mat is being laid out for young Robin Utthappa. The lad has been an attacking and moderately consistent No.1 for the Karnataka Ranji side. It seems like eons ago that he used to be ushered in to play with us big boys in long gone club clashes, as he is now one of the big boys himself(other than India under-19 appearances he also cracked that 93 for India B in the last challenger series).
Nothing replaces hard performance and as Gambhir painfully dissects each miss-timed shot and every poke at the corridor of uncertainty, this fact must be glaringly obvious. I can only wonder why Sehwag has been retained, despite his overtly generous ploy of gifting the opposition his wicket, time after time, in an agonisingly similar fashion. Perhaps Tendulkar's absence has played a large part in this; perhaps the Chappell-Dravid syndicate refuses to let go of the Sultan of Multan based on pure potential and the proverbial 'what if'. We can only speculate while accepting that he has had plenty of starts but few conversions. Like them, and a billion other Indians, I would love to see the marauder thrash Freddie and co., with characteristic impunity.
Another surprise has been persisting with Kaif, his phenomenal fielding nonwithstanding. Even Dravid has rubbished rumours that the pigeon toed right hander is woefully out of form. The numbers, when crunched, reveal a different story. In his last 15 ODIs, he has managed 224 runs at an unimpressive 25 (far below his career 33) with a lone half century against New Zealand and his last 7 scores read like a telephone number (8,5,0,0,4,0,0). I'm just baffled that batsmen like Venugopal Rao(also a brilliant fielder and part time offie) are carrying drinks, while Kaif gets repeated nods and consecutive ducks. Give them both a break.
The pace bowling and wicket-keeping departments, once India's bone of contention have matured nicely, brimming with a talented pool to chose from. Add Dravid, Yuvraj and Raina to the party and you've got an enviable one day force. Provided of course, the 'perform or else' dictum holds good for all, in equal measures.
