Many years ago, after watching Mohammad Kaif calmly lead India to a win in the finals of the Natwest Trophy, Daniel Laidlaw proclaimed - Give this man a Test cap!
Yesterday, after 4 days of following the Ranji Trophy finals on CricInfo, I want to say the same about Manish Pandey. Give this man a Test cap...soon! This is not a knee-jerk reaction to him scoring a century in the Ranji Trophy final but because of his body of work this year. He led all batsmen in runs scored and centuries made in the Ranji Trophy this year, and did so at a Sehwagian strike rate of almost 80.
As if his batting was not not impressive enough, he is a great fielder, too. Here's the best example he can ever put forth to prove that:
With an Indian middle-order that reads Dravid, Tendulkar, and Laxman, the only spot available right now is #6. The current incumbent, Yuvraj Singh, is being given an extended run at it (and rightly so) but has not done enough to dispel doubts over his temperament when the ball is moving. I fear that Manish may go the way of so many other players. Yes, he is young and all that, but the Indian selectorial system is not conducive to fairness and that is my biggest fear about players not being blooded when they are young enough to make it count. A fate that appears to be in S. Badrinath's future now.
No comments:
Post a Comment