The Colonel Stamps His Authority

By Gaurang
January 28 2007

Dilip Vengsarkar, the new chairman of selectors, earned the nickname Colonel in his playing days, based on his supposed resemblance in style and bearing to the original Colonel of Indian cricket, Colonel C.K. Nayudu.

C.K. was a military man, and a stickler for discipline and straight talk. It seems that Vengsarkar has not only inherited C.K.’s sobriquet, but also some of his other qualities.

Selectors and especially the chief of selectors can play a vital role in the success of a team. Many remember the role Vijay Merchant played as chief selector in blooding youngsters like G.R. Viswanath, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Gavaskar, etc. at just the correct moment as well as his casting vote in favor of the phlegmatic Ajit Wadekar to lead India over an out of form Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, resulting in series wins in three consecutive series, including two all time great wins overseas over the powerhouses of their day, West Indies and England.

If the selectors are neutral and focused on the job of choosing the best team available, they make the job of the captain that much easier. If the selectors are biased either due to zonal considerations, petty personal animosities, or to curry favor with the captain, coach, or board official, they can cause tremendous damage to a team.

Dilip Vengsarkar so far has shown he is nothing like his immediate predecessor, Kiran More, whose reign was marred by the most personally vindictive behavior by an Indian selector in Indian cricket history. On top of that More was a very poor communicator and was never straight forward in his explanations about the selections made by him and his colleagues. Whether this was due to a genuine lack of basic communication skills or because the decisions taken were often difficult to comprehend in a logical manner, is immaterial. The impression one got of him and colleagues was very negative.

Vengsarkar in contrast has been adroit at handling the press. Though known as reserved and even taciturn as a player and captain, he has appeared level headed, to the point, and refreshingly candid as a selector. One of the first things he did as chairman of the selection panel was to announce quite clearly that fitness and current form, not youth and future potential, would be the guiding principle of his chairmanship. He also scotched the idea that experimentation for the sake of experimentation and “process” was more important than winning or losing. Additionally he attended a lot more domestic games in far flung places and encouraged his panel to do the same, to get a better feel for the potential of players in the domestic set up. Finally he made it pretty much mandatory that international players played in domestic first class and list A matches whenever possible.

This principle based approach saw the return of veterans like Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, who were being kept out of the team on non-cricketing basis, into the team, and quickly established themselves as stand out performers again. Vengsarkar was also dispatched to South Africa to ensure that possible bias against these players by the team management and particularly the coach did not unduly affect team selection.

Of course, not every selection that the panel has made has been successful. The example of Wasim Jaffer’s dismal display in the ODIs in South Africa was a clear failure. What however, is refreshingly different from predecessors is the Colonel’s willingness to admit a mistake and make the necessary changes pretty quickly. Upon return to India Jaffer was dropped from the ODI squad and Gautam Gambhir was picked to open with Ganguly. And though Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan were both sent off to play domestic cricket to get their groove back, what is heartening is that this banishment has not been unnecessarily long. Once it appears that the player, who for the vast majority of his career was a match winner, has made the necessary adjustments, he has been quickly brought back into the squad, like Pathan has been and Sehwag is likely to be in the near future.

Also as such selections have been based on cricketing factors and nothing else. When asked if the selection of certain players would upset the coach, Vengsarkar quite forcefully and succinctly said that the selectors pick a team to represent the country and are not bothered about the personal likes or dislikes of any individual. Vengsarkar also indicated in the same breath that he expected the player and the coach to be professional and to work together.

Such refreshing candor, coupled with a vision for the future of the game, and as deep an understanding of the psyche of the players and captain, has certainly gained Vengsarkar enormous credibility among the public, who normally are not so enthusiastic about the abilities of selectors. The fact that Vengsarkar has played well over two hundred international games, and captained scores of them, as well as the fact that he belongs to that band of select ex-India players who have actually experienced first hand a World Cup victory certainly helps.

If India do reach the semi finals and beyond in the upcoming World Cup, no small amount of credit should go to the Colonel and his “Bunch of Jokers”.