While appreciating the national selectors' policy of grooming youngsters during the triangular day-night series, involving Kenya, Bangladesh and India, the former India all-rounder said, ``There was no need to have fielded the senior players in this series. If the selectors wanted to give them rest, they should have not recalled them after the first two games.

Does it mean the selectors have no confidence in our second-string,'' he asked. ``If we have to depend upon Sachin Tendulkar, Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Navjot Sidhu and Nayan Mongia to beat teams like Bangladesh and Kenya, there surely must be something wrong with our system,'' he said in a taunting tone.

The best thing, according to Madan Lal, would have been to field an India `A' team in the series. ``If you want to groom the country's second-string, go ahead by all means. But don't make India colours so cheap by giving it to every third person. What then is the difference between a Tendulkar, an Azharuddin, a Ganguly, a Dravid and these boys who are being pushed straightaway into the national team, without having achieved much on the domestic circuit,'' he lamented.

He dismissed the theory of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that it wants to try as many players as possible before next year's World Cup in England.

``You can take only 14-15 players for the World Cup and there are not many places for grabs in the present squad. Why do they want to give false hope to the boys? And then, even the selectors are not consistent in their policy. If you want to try someone, give him a fair chance to prove himself.

They included Nikhil Haldipur, Jyoti Yadav and Sanjay Raul in the squad but did not give them an opportunity to prove themselves. You cannot play with the careers and confidence of youngsters like this,'' he warned. He also said players like VVS Laxman and MSK Prasad should have been given more matches to give them confidence.

Madan Lal also talked about the lack of motivation of the team members in the present series. ``The seniors needed complete rest for at least a month after some hectic cricket over the past four months, which they were denied. The composition of the team has been changed and shuffled so frequently in this series that it was little surprise that even Kenya beat us at Gwalior.''

Madan Lal on Sunday distributed certificates to over 250 boys in the 9-17 age group who had turned up at his fortnightly `talent search' camp at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. The next phase of Madan Lal's schedule will be held during September when about 60-70 boys from this group will be called for further training. ``There is enough talent. What they need is proper guidance over a longer period,'' he said. ``People from as far a place as Guwahati, Calcutta and Amritsar also were in the camp and showed keen interest to learn,'' he added.

Madan Lal was assisted during the camp by former India speedster Sanjeev Sharma and two former Delhi Ranji cricketers Manu Nayyar and Rajinder Singh.