Harbhajan shouldn’t chase short-term goals

Harbhajan shouldn’t chase short-term goals
Bishan Singh Bedi

Believe it or not, yet another youngster may have caused a wee bit of consternation to Mr Chandu Borde. Well, if the chairman of Indian selectors was not quite horrified with Badani’s exploits, he ought to be pleasantly embarrassed. No more shall we hear that cricket talent in the country is at a premium. It is quite another story that we are often found wanting in taking our jobs in official capacity with any firm conviction. The irony is that India still manages to throw up sporting heroes to surprise the nation. And not just the national selectors.

Meanwhile, Hemang Badani adds to the list of young brigade of cricketers we may see in the next World Cup. However, consistency in players’ performance and the picking process of the selectors remains to be seen.

In the Australian camp, there was a massive upheaval, i.e. dropping of one of the five cricketers of the last millennium. It seems the wishes of John Buchanan prevailed at long last. I guess the Aussies are mature enough to gracefully accept the requirement of the team. May be, Shane Warne would be provoked to prove the team management wrong in the near future.

The Indian gameplan had an air of confidence, which was not misplaced right from the time the toss went Ganguly’s way. But the top Indian batting was a mad, inexplicable rush, with Laxman becoming a nightmare to run with in between wickets. Although VVS got a plucky half-century, he had set a dreadful fashion of getting his colleagues run out. Even himself, finally. Poor cricket thinking all along. Saurav Ganguly can still get away with a sympathetic ‘bad patch.! But I am not too sure, for how long. Badani showed good sense and temperament to leave a stamp of class and utility. If only this nomenclature was apt. Poor Badani will have to be content with an achievement and defeat simultaneously.

A poor one-day wicket was not exploited fully by the combined imagination of Ganguly and his two spinners. The more I see Harbhajan bowl in one-dayers, the more I am convinced he should be happy away from it. Let us give him time to settle down in Test cricket with patience. Let us face it, one-day cricket is not everybody’s cup of tea. Having just discovered a match-winner in Tests, we can assist the youngster by not causing undesirable confusion in his mental make-up.

Sunil Joshi continues to be an enigma for himself and his skipper. It is difficult to suggest who has lesser confidence in the other. Perhaps, the only thing that binds them is total lack of personal performance. But then Ganguly is the captain and has that cushion of certainty, which is not the joy of Joshi.

Indians have problems with Srinath. Dahiya, too, had a poor game. So many glaring shortcomings all of a sudden. This is what happens to a losing side. We are pretty familiar with this kind of a cruel doctrine. World champions Australia played like they were expected to and left no doubt in anybody’s mind about their true potential. Mark Waugh and Hayden laid a solid foundation for an absolute one-sided contest which can be such a big bore in limited version of cricket.