Ranadeb Bose

Cricket is out. Speculation is in. Will Greg Chappell be retained? Will Rahul Dravid remain captain? More bets are probably being placed on these burning questions than on the World Cup matches. But for India, the most pressing question of the hour, after the embarrassing boot from the World Cup, is still — if not these, then who?

“The problem is, after such a debacle everyone talks about the need for newer, younger players for a few months and then we play against a team like Bangladesh and become champions. Everybody is happy,” says Ajit Wadekar, former captain and manager, Indian cricket team.

The ones competent enough to recognise and recommend young talent are the captains, coaches and players from the Indian team’s golden past. Conversations with a few former captains and players throw up a few names, some common and some not.

Of the recommended new crop, Ranadeb Bose and Manoj Tiwary of Bengal, Rohit Sharma of Mumbai, and Amit Mishra of Haryana were the ones to be named often. Bose, though 28 now, bagged 57 wickets in the last Ranji season and 21-year-old Tiwary is another guarantee with 796 runs in just seven Ranji matches. Yet, though these domestic players have been lauded as succeeding torch bearers they are not anywhere near sniffing distance of an international career.

However, stuck between the witchhunt for the culprits and the talent recce for the successors is also the niggling doubt about the mediocre performances of the recent rookies. Former captain Nari Contractor blames the off-and-on performance of players such as Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina on excessive pressure that’s dealt out to them. “Youngsters should be given a decent run. Raina and Kaif will do well,” insists Contractor.

Talent exists, sure, no one doubts that, but India’s track record in plucking newbies from under-19 and domestic cricket and plonking them in the middle of the intimidating and challenging international arena carries a bad name. “Look at Parthiv Patel, young and promising, but he was pushed in a little too early,” says former opener Chetan Chauhan.

Experts assert that honing potential gems in domestic cricket for a couple of years is critical. “Bringing new players in immediately is not the answer, just to placate and show that something is being done,” says former spinner Woorkeri Raman. Equally crucial is the hunt for replacements in the current team. Contractor explains, “Whether it is Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble or Dravid, they are all on the verge of moving out. What or who did we take to the World Cup as the future?”

Even the present is as bleak as it gets. Can Indian cricket pick up or should it pack up? As Ajit Wadekar mentions in passing, recent German research shows that out of every 100 babies, 33 have the potential to reach the Olympic level. It is up to us to find them.

Padmaparna Ghosh