Back to their old games

a strong case will now be made for elevating kenya to test status and permanent membership of the international cricket council now that they have beaten india by a handsome margin. bangladesh were ushered into the company after they beat pakistan in the last world cup in england. bangladesh's victory (or were they made to win?) came in an inconsequential match, whereas kenya beat india in a live rubber.moreover, kenya have also beaten india once before here on a hot summer day and walloped bangladesh almost every time the two countries have played. while the kenyans are pondering whom to give the credit for the victory, coach sandip patil or their new consultant bob woolmer, the indian team management is busy trying to play its little games to protect its favourite players for the test series. it is understandable if a player, who had performed well in tests, is asked to stay for the the one-dayers, but how can it be the other way round. it has now been proved beyond doubt that if ashish nehra had been spared from the one-dayers in zimbabwe, he would have been fit enough to play the tests both in sri lanka and south africa. instead, he has become a pawn in a bigger game being played by the selectors and the team management as he struggles to prove his fitness the same team management didn't show that much interest in nehra when phisio andrew leipus said the delhi lad needed only two weeks to regain full fitness, but it's keen to get zaheer khan for the one-dayers even if he's half fit. whatever the board chief or secretary might say, it's a fact that the team management did ask for the baroda fast bowler after the team's first loss against south africa. after the defeat against kenya, the think-tank has realised that it is the batting that has let it down, not bowling! so they need venkata sai laxman, who has just proved his fitness with one of his customary big hundreds in the irani trophy, to bolster the middle-order as all the whizkids have flopped. imagine, the chief selector noticed some limp in laxman's gait while walking to his slip position after arranging the field as captain. come to think of it, it's laxman who had volunteered to play! the selectors and the team management have never been on the best of terms. if a player is thrust upon the captain he would see to it the guy cooled his heels in the players enclosure or in the hotel lobby. the same selectors drop the player for the next series because he's of no use to the captain and invite criticism. sometimes the selectors rub it in by retaining the player. no point recalling the names of players who have had a holiday series after series collecting tour fees. the selectors showed some great imagination in picking the rest of india side for the irani trophy after their meeting with the board president in delhi. the five wise men, who have always picked six batsman for test matches, had only five for the nagpur game, wicketkeeper ajay ratra coming in at number six with five bowlers following him. one of the four batsmen included in the eleven was kanitkar and it's said he was included in the squad because the match was to be played in pune. the argument for his inclusion was that he's too senior a player to be kept in the reserves. the team management in south africa is doing the same. it doesn't want to send any of the senior players back home, particularly the bowlers. as for wicketkeeping, the strategy is to try out all youngsters in the one-dayers but plump for sameer dighe for the tests. someone says dasguptas and ratras are for the foreseable future and dighe is for immediate future. wonder what's wrong with vijay dahiya who has not been given a second chance.