MUMBAI, January 28: One has heard about the left hand not knowing what the right hand does, but in the case of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), it seems a case of the right hand not knowing what the right hand is doing!The 45-day India A tour of Pakistan ends on March 17 while the India A match against Australia is scheduled from March 13-15. How can one have two India A sides? Logically, the match against Australia should carry more weightage for obvious reasons. Would that mean the BCCI will send an India B team to face Pakistan A?
Matches involving National A sides need to be given the importance they deserve. Players like Ajit Agarkar and Wasim Jaffer have been on the fringe of national selection while someone like Jatin Paranjpe has been in cracking form right through the season. The trio, who are in the team to tour Pakistan, would like to believe that a good showing against Australia will enhance their claims to get into the Indian team than an equally good performance againstPakistan A. Should they be denied that opportunity?
BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur told The Indian Express that he has told the selectors that should they need any of the India A players touring Pakistan for the Jamshedpur game against Australia, they are free to summon them. ``We will replace those players with the tour standbys,'' the BCCI chief added.
The point that also needs to be considered is that if any of the players chosen for the Pakistan tour are summoned to play at Jamshedpur, then it would mean they will have to return home after the conclusion of the third and final `Test' at Sialkot on March 10. Such of those will miss the three-match one-day series against Pakistan A to be played at March 13, 15 (both at Lahore) and 17 (at Karachi). Why should they lose out on opportunities because of faulty planning?
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
