Exclusive: NCA, national team selectors combine to draw road-map for Indian cricket

The synchronisation between the NCA and selectors helps BCCI prepare a gameplan for the road ahead and wants to ready a pool of 30-33 players as backup for India seniors, reports ETV Bharat's Sanjib Guha.

Kolkata:The band of cricketers Rohit Sharma represents are as ruthless as the mighty Windies in the 80s or the indomitable Aussies after that. To prove the experts right, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul went all guns blazing in the last cricket World Cup at home. From the beginning of the marquee tournament, India were primed favourites from the very word go. But then, it was unthinkable to have a 10-match winning streak till the juggernaut was stopped by the marauding Aussies in the grand finale.

Despite the loss, experts still believe that there couldn't have been a better white-ball team than this bunch led by Rohit Sharma. How did it happen? Has it happened overnight? No, it translated from the efforts that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took at the stroke of the 21st century — by setting up the National Cricket Academy and its high-performance centre at the heart of southern metropolis Bengaluru, well complemented by the national selectors thus far. Nothing succeeds like success. A process that made a strong foundation for Indian cricket has been carried forward, come what may.

The plan

Cut to the present, the job of keeping the tempo going also rests on the Bengaluru-based centre. Of course, the five wise men (BCCI senior selection committee) are part of the know-how. The roadmap for the calendars ahead has been prepared and things look to have been falling in places.

"The plan is to prepare a good bench comprising 30-33 players. India Seniors, India A, and another team should always be at disposal whenever the selectors pick a side for any tournament or bilateral series," a top source in the BCCI told ETV Bharat.

If the official is to be believed, the selectors in consultation with the NCA mandarins have been picking horses for courses. "It is the NCA that suggests, who is fit and available and also, who should be pursued in which format given the three versions Tests, ODIs, and T20s," the official said.

Pandya injury, an eye-opener

It may be recalled that India lost the services of crucial all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who suffered an ankle injury during the World Cup, while bowling against Bangladesh on October 18. But, that seemed to have virtually no effect on the side even after losing a vital cog in the team composition.

In came Mohammed Shami, and immediately had a telling effect. The speedster went on to claim 24 wickets and finish as the highest wicket-taker of the tournament playing four fewer matches than some of his colleagues. That's what planning does. "We now have a reserve bench as good as the first XI... there are a plethora of choices, if someone gets injured or walks into a bad patch, we have a replacement ready," the source said.

One cannot deny the fact that the current set-up has options aplenty. It is so much so that players of the calibre of Ravichandran Ashwin or Yuzvendra Chahal are cooling their heels as the top XI are on business regularly.
Even after the baton passed from Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the performance never nosedived. That India have been working on its weaknesses, is evident from the time Dhoni left the scene.

Players' burnout issue

Another important aspect that needs to be revisited time and again is the players' burnout issue. This has been a raging topic for all the cricket-playing nations these days given the number of international matches coupled with the private leagues they have to be part of. "Besides keeping three parallel teams ready, there will be players for different formats. This doesn't mean that players will be labeled in each of the three formats. But, they have to gradually make themselves indispensable for the other formats. Like someone like Rinku Singh is currently slotted for the shortest format, but he may play the other formats in the future," the source said.

Top players, especially fast bowlers, will have their tasks cut out. Like an aging Shami will be more preferred in the red-ball cricket rather than the white-ball game to manage his workload. "However he is very much in the scheme of things for all formats till the next T20 World Cup in 2024," he added.

Jasprit Bumrah, who has just returned to the fold after a fairly long injury lay-off, will be cautiously played so that the injury doesn't recur. The burnout issue is handled by the high-performance center at the NCA and that provides valuable suggestions to the selectors from time to time.

Bench strength

However, as far as the bench is concerned, India is considered rich. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, etc. are waiting in the wings to explode at the top level of the game sooner than later.

"They need ample time to get accustomed to the top level and for that to rub shoulders with the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill (established players for all formats so far) so that they graduate to that league quickly," the source mentioned.

If Shami, Bumrah, and Mohammad Siraj are unsettling the batters across the globe, players like Krishna, Arshdeep, Navdeep Saini, and Mukesh Kumar are gearing up to take the challenge head-on anytime soon.