Building Bench Strength in a Helpful Way

One thing good about Indian cricket is that there is no dearth of talent in this vast nation. This is why the national selectors always have a tough time while selecting teams for any tournament that our Men in Blues will participate in. There is a lot of speculation before the selection meeting and criticisms after the final team are announced. If I was a BCCI selection committee member this blog would be of special interest to me. I would like to share an idea by which the BCCI selection committee can reduce their worries and select a fair team. In the way they would also be serving the cricketing fraternity.

Ireland are a Competitive Side

ICC has admitted and Affiliate Nations have always been complaining about the lack of match practice they have before competing in the World Cup, Asia Cup, World Cup T20, etc. They have every reason to complain, they hardly get 3 or 4 matches in four years against the top teams and it is no wonder they seem to be below class in the premiere cricketing events (with the exception of Kenya and Ireland). ICC have found no solution to providing them regular top flight cricket and many cricketers from these Affiliate Nations are leaving to take part in the big domestic leagues, never to return again. If ICC wants their projected scenario of Globalizing Cricket effectively they will have to provide teams scope to play enough cricket all through the year.

Now you would be wondering where the connection between the above given two facts lies? There is a huge connection. ICC Affiliate Nations require quality cricketing practice all through the year and our young talents require exposure to top level cricket in alien conditions. What I want to mean is, in the recently concluded NKP Salvi Challenger’s Trophy we saw Indian team being divided into three parts – India Blue, India Red and India Green. Why not have such a division all through the year. We can provide 45 Indian team fringe players to play International cricket in populated stadiums around the world.

Why Not Have 3 Team Strategy in Challengers Trophy Intact?

If the BCCI would approach the ICC with such a plan it would more that please the world’s governing body. The Affiliate Nations would get a chance to play against players having International experience or players that are nearly good enough to play International cricket that will help them hone their skills even further. If you talk about the competitiveness of the minnows, then let me remind you we have Ireland, Netherlands and Kenya in that league. Each one of these teams has caused an upset in the World Cups beating the well famed teams. So they will be more than competitive for our fringe players. On the otherhand the Indian fringe players will get a chance to play in seaming conditions (in Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Canada, etc.) which are quite alien to them.

Kenya Have Proved They are No Push overs

So the BCCI should seriously start considering the appointment of quality cricket coaches such as Dave Whatmore, Robin Singh and their likes to guide the India A, B and C teams. These games will provide a much required bench strength, the weakness of which came to the fore in the recently concluded England tour. Selectors would be able to closely watch the results and performances from the players and that would aid them in the national team selection.

Such an arrangement would be ideal to groom our young Indian cricketers as well as have a fair selection process.