The Edgbaston win has put a temporary lid on the debate about team selection, but picking the eleven is a challenge that pops up ahead of every game.

Test match action starts before the openers take guard and the umpire calls play. The day before is prep time, players are anxious students doing last minute revision of the syllabus. Following the ‘process’ is important, which means attend the team meeting, have a hit in the nets, do fitness drills, and mental exercises to soothe nerves. Then, early dinner and eight hours of sleep.

Pre-game, the team management is busy studying the pitch and deciding the playing eleven. The captain, coach and chief selector scratch their wise heads to pick the right combination based on conditions, aware that a wrong call – a tactical error – could cost them the game before the toss. Usually, it boils down to sorting out the bowling attack.

In England, selecting the best combination considering the seaming/swinging conditions is never straightforward. Should you bat down to 7-8 or pick five specialist bowlers to get 20 wickets. Packing the side with medium pace all-rounders is a ‘safety first insurance option’ but that compromises the bowling and leaves Kuldeep Yadav wearing a yellow bib.

Team selection is also linked to team culture and its brand of cricket. India, despite its spin riches, does not play two specialist spinners overseas. This risk averse policy has resulted in superstars Kumble, Ashwin, Harbhajan missing out often. But Australia trusts Lyon regardless of conditions and England are doing that with Bashir.

Team selection is about putting out the best eleven that can win the game. It’s hugely reliant on the pitch, but the surface is difficult to read and its unpredictable nature can surprise both captains. Grounds have their history, a pattern of how they play, but reading the pitch is an inexact science – part intuition, part knowledge, part educated guess, part complete guesswork.

One classic example of teams misreading the pitch was the epic India-Pakistan Bangalore game in 1987. Pakistan skipper Imran Khan dropped his main spinner Iqbal Qadir to include left-arm quick Saleem Jaffer, assuming it’d be a normal surface. But the wicket was an unplayable turner and Imran bowled five overs in the first innings, none in the second. Jaffer did not bowl at all.

For selectors, deciding the eleven is relatively easy. The tricky part is to identify talent and separate the good from the ordinary. According to England’s former chief selector, Ed Smith, it is about two things - talent and timing. Talent is judged by scouts and data analytics, and selectors go beyond the score book to discover the spark that makes a player special. Earlier, young batters were considered talented if they had time and judged length early.

But modern pundit Kumar Sangakkara places high value on ball striking ability. For fast bowlers, raw pace and movement in the air is priceless. For any decent spinner, turn and dip is essential.

One crucial decision in selection is timing, knowing whether the player is ready. Common wisdom suggests players should come through the grind of first-class cricket, gain experience and then take the next step up. The new trend prefers the shortcut of jumping the queue through white-ball cricket. The IPL elevator is quicker than the Ranji ladder.

Traditionally, India has been willing to give young players a go. Vaibhav Suryavanshi is an astonishing example of a precocious talent who was spotted early and fast tracked. That the 14-year-old has hundreds in international U-19 cricket and a 37-ball century in IPL confirms his wonderful talent.

That he was discovered at 12 and quickly picked for Ranji by Bihar is a tribute to the robust system in place. Credit also to the Indian selectors who were bold enough to trust the talent of someone this young and put him in the Indian U-19 team.

But for every inspired selection there are instances of bizarre calls. Spare a thought for Sarfaraz who went to Australia after a successful home series, didn’t get a game there, and was dropped. Also, think of Easwaran, who is on his second tour to England but the opener does not even figure in any conversation. He must be wondering when, or whether, he will get the nod.

Regarding selection in India, Ajay Jadeja points to a unique Indian thing. He says selection is about dropping players, not picking them. And after a defeat, it is the fringe players who get dropped, and the core stays.

Read Also: England Clinches Final ODI with Dawkins and Mayes Heroics, India Takes Series 3-2
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