Many inspite of being passengers were not bad selections. Example, Harbhjan Singh, VVS Laxman. These went on to become regular members. Eyebrows could be raised on players such as Connor Williams.
The only way this can end is by having a 3 member Selection Committee consisting of people who have represented the country with distinction - players like Gavaskar, Bedi, Viswanath, Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath, Prasanna, M A K Pataudi etc. They are men with excellent record and we can be sure of unbiased selection and not with people like Jagdale and Pronob Roy. While Roy has played half a test for India, I wonder whether Jagdale ever held a bat in his hand.
As listed tours spelling out those who took only "benches" during the tour not only exposes the team selection comitees but also casts doubt on their seriousness in making "india" as strong team. I even take the case of parthiv patel whose debacles during the tri-nation series in India recently does call for his inclusion but BCCI donot even seem to have a second alternative. doesit mean that they cannot see a wicket-keeper in entire india. moreover i really donot see a single reason as to why venkatesh prasad is not given a chance at all. How is BCCI supporting training for future probables thru MRF pace foundation or any other state cricket associations. does BCCI loose money only thru harshad metha-like scams? many questions are not answered during long time.
I found this article rather whimsical. Ofcourse a couple of guys need to sit out of tours. And there was nothing wrong in Youhanan sitting out 9 tests on the trot. He certainly is no Marshall. And as someone else correctly pointed out, we seem to have passengers in the playing 11 itself!
Rediff must take care to research facts before publishing.
It is true that the selectors pick a side not entirely matching the demands of the tour conditions. There seems to be very little efforts from their side to understand the true conditions and select the team accordingly. Additionally it appears that the captain and vice captain are kept in dark till the last moment about the new players and this makes the captain apprehensive about their capabilities and he refrains from playing them during the tour.
Another notable of Indian tours of late, is the shorter duration with very few practice matches. This makes the captain's job even more difficult as he has to give maximum exposure to the players he believe in.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
1. Before Indian Seniors make a tour, there has to be necessarily a tour by the India 'A' team to the same country with those players who are likely to be included in the Seniors team.
2. Selectors must visit the countries India would be touring and collect information about Pitch and climatic conditions.
3. The touring side could be made bigger and they are divided into 2 teams and are asked to play matches simultaneously at the same time.
Are you sure there aren't more than 2-3 passengers on the list? May be you got the numbers the wrong way around; they are all passengers barring 2 or 3!
The players mentioned by you have mostly represented India one time or another in the playing eleven. In other countries also all the sixteen members do not get a chance to play. Stuart MacGill is an example.
What is apalling about India is there are passengers in the playing eleven itself!!! They don't contribute with bat or ball. On this tour Saurav Ganguly leads that list!!!
