MUMBAI, May 7: The cavalier manner in which the Indian team for the Independence Cup has been decided provokes the question: Is this the composition which the skipper of the side wanted ?

Unless Sachin Tendulkar is a flip-flop trapeze artist, it's unlikely he would have spoken differently at the Trans-Atlantic teleconference that he had with the presiding deities of India's cricketing fortunes from what he had said less than 48 hours ago.

Tendulkar, it may be recalled, had made some veiled statements to an Indian agency reporter which gave subtle insight into his thought process on the team selection eve.

``What the team urgently needs is a good all-rounder. A quality all-round player....Unfortunately, we are struggling in this area. It hinders team selection as well... Also, a wrist spinner who can turn on any track,'' were his post-tour pronouncements.

What one could logically infer was that Robin Singh's all-round utility has been consigned to history. The passage of time had corroded his abilities to an extent that he his neither pulling his weight as a meaningful fifth bowler nor is he able to step on the accelerator in the slog phase.

Since the exit of Kapil Dev and the exile of Manoj Prabhakar, the Indian team has not had a qualitative all-rounder. And one can well appreciate it when Tendulkar talks about hindrances in team selection.

The skipper's call for the other requirement is even more interesting. The need of ``a wrist spinner who can turn on any track'' is a dead giveaway that he is not happy with the form of his principal strike bowler in the spin department -- his own deputy.

Tendulkar is far too cerebral to suggest Anil Kumble's omission, especially on home tracks where he will be a different proposition. But the word ``any tracks'' still made interesting reading. It certainly implied that one has to think in terms of a bowler who can win matches abroad too.

The one-day stats of Robin and Sunil Joshi on the twin tours of South Africa and the West Indies is indeed revealing: The former registering 112 runs and seven wickets from 11 matches and the latter 11 runs and four wickets in four matches. All-rounders worth retaining their places?

Joshi, in fact, figured in one match in the West Indies and Dodda Ganesh in none at all. Was a more eloquent statement needed what the team management thought about their abilities ? Yet, the selectors have thought otherwise.

Did the selectors have meaningful options as replacements ? The answer is an emphatic yes. Mumbai's Ajit Agarkar is raw but a very exciting prospect. The 19-year-old is a very useful lower-order bat, but it's as new ball bowler that he spells danger -- one of the quickest in the country who could add yards of pace once he fills out. Agarkar, apparently, is not fully fit and thus lost out.

Ajay Sharma's toil in domestic cricket could have been rewarded by giving him the all-rounder's slot and Mumbai's bowling hero in their Ranji Trophy triumph (41 wickets at 22.05), left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, the place retained by Joshi

. With Kishen Rungta displaying more determination in his parochial thinking than the Indian team showed in winning matches, Gagan Khoda's selection was a cinch.

One wonders if performances in the National Championship count. The thought occurs when outstandingly successful youngsters like Wasim Jaffer -- 692 runs at 115.33 in his debut season --and Hrishikesh Kantikar -- five centuries and nearly a 1,000 runs -- go unrewarded.

The exclusion of Mohammed Azharuddin seemed a bit illogical, if not unfair. Azhar was second behind Rahul Dravid in the one-day averages in South Africa and after a disappointing series, ended with an innings of 40 in the final one-dayer against the Windies. The point is: He was persisted when he should have been dropped and dropped when he should have been given a couple of more chances. It's not the quantum of runs in his last one-day innings but the fact that he could have struck form on the slow, low pitches at home which merited the seasoned campaigner's inclusion.

But it seems that his dropping had more to do with matters of the field -- the flouting of the Board directive in extending his wife's tenure on the tour. Of course, the Board high priests believe that in such sensitive matters any transparency would be violating the Officials Secrets Act!

But coming back to Azhar. Has his cricket career entered the Bermuda Triangle ? Unless, the wristy, touch artist calls it quits in disgust, it's not yet time to write his cricketing obit.

To come back to Tendulkar. At present, he is getting the blame but not the resources. What options has he ? Just one. To quit the captaincy. It's time he did. Vox populi will save him and the country.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.