Another answer that went beyond the usual clichés was on India’s talent pool. “At the Challenger (series) we saw a lot of players. To be honest with you, there is not much talent. They are players who are good at first class level but they are yet to come up at the international level. I haven’t seen any exceptional talent,” he said.

First impression, says the former BCCI Chief Talent Research Development Officer, is tough to impress. And that was the reason rookies Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma didn’t make it, while “the technically sound” Test opener Jaffer did. It was Jaffer’s transition to ODIs that showed the Vengsarkar stamp, since much shouldn’t be read in the inclusion of Kumble and Zaheer as the two old hands were on the radar of the previous panel too.

There are various ways of looking at Jaffer’s inclusion other than the naïve conclusion that Jaffer and Vengsarkar happen to be from Mumbai. It was his “tight technique” that saw Vengsarkar give the nod to the textbook style batting star ahead of the flashy Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir or Bangalore’s Uthappa. But technique wasn’t the sole criteria for selection as Laxman found out. According to Vengsarkar, Laxman’s fielding wasn’t up to the international ODI level.

The Robins and Rohits might have to wait for a while, since Vengsarkar isn’t one who can easily be impressed. As a 20-year-old, Vengsarkar made it to the national team after a blistering attack on spin legends Bedi and Prasanna. Something similar is expected from others now.

... contd.