A risk worth taking

Of all the names that Niranjan Shah, the Indian board secretary, read out this morning while announcing the one-day squad to tour South Africa, one stood out. At one level, Wasim Jaffer's selection is bizarre, even regressive. Some might even be inclined to see a Mumbai hand from Dilip Vengsarkar, the new chairman of selectors. At another, it is an out-of-box selection aimed at addressing an immediate problem.

Over last few months, Indian batsmen have struggled to adapt to different conditions - whether it's the sluggish Caribbean tracks or the lively two-paced ones at Kuala Lumpur, or the suddenly spiced-up ones in India. It would be no surprise if India receive a grassy welcome in South Africa. This is not to argue that Jaffer is the embodiment of technical rectitude - in fact he has had a problem with the swinging ball of the fuller length - but he is a specialist opening batsman, and one of few Indian batsmen fluent on the back foot. His presence could serve both as insurance against Virender Sehwag's failure at the top and a reminder to Sehwag that a replacement was at hand.

Jaffer himself will have no pretensions of being a one-day player. He's yet to make his ODI debut and over the last ten years of his first-class career, he's hardly set the domestic one-day scene afire. He's a safe catcher and an average fielder (Vengsarkar's claim that he was an "excellent fielder" is slightly dubious).

The fact that he's been chosen for just three Challenger Trophies, India's premier one-day competition where 36 of the best compete, since his debut in 1996 is a clear sign. He made a fair impression the first time, way back in 1997, with scores of 58 and 49 but in his next two chances, in 2003 and 2006, he's aggregated just 62 in four games. The fact he was chosen in this year's edition - before Vengsarkar's tenure began - was a surprise in itself.

As far as domestic one-day games go, he even lacks experience - as 44 games in a decade-long career signify. To put things in perspective, Suresh Raina, who entered the first-class one-day scene two years back, and Gautam Gambhir, who began in 2000, have 54 and 99 respectively. He's been chosen for the West Zone Deodhar Trophy side precisely twice - both games were in the 2000-01 season - and has not even been in the picture since. If at all he's a bit confused about Powerplays and Duckworth-Lewis, nobody should blame him.

What he can do is provide a calming presence at the top. The recent trend of one-day scores, allied with the bowler-friendly nature of the wickets, has meant that batsmen have stood shamefully exposed. Those who turned into bullies on shirtfronts have not a clue against the moving, rising or stopping ball and the value of technique and hard graft is slowly beginning to dawn on many. Jaffer, if at all he's picked in the XI, can be asked to plug up one end, concentrate on building his innings as the rest accelerate around him. India's big problem, as Vengsarkar himself admitted today, was that none of the top-order batsmen have managed to bat through an innings. Gambhir probably has the domestic scores to point to but it's hard to imagine him gritting it out when the pitch is a bit juiced up.

Jaffer may not even get a game. Worse still, he might be picked and be thoroughly roughened up by Makhaya Ntini and gang, so badly so that his Test series might end in misery. But, considering the scarcity of options available, it's a risk worth taking. In a way it's a selection that goes against the grain - unlike a number of players in the recent past who've started off in the one-dayers and stepped up to the Test level. Jaffer may actually end up making the transition in reverse. It's refreshing in a way because it tells you that there's a place for all, sending out a clear message that cricketing skill - at the nuts-and-bolts level - is actually the bottomline.