Finally, the TN Selectors take the big-bold call
A blessing in disguise for the Southpaw to focus once again on the longer version of the game!!
A blessing in disguise for the Southpaw to focus once again on the longer version of the game!!
For the
first time in his short career, Abhinav Mukund has been dropped from the Tamil
Nadu team. He has been left out of the team for the ongoing South Zone one day tournament and it is unlikely, with TN having qualified easily for the inter zonals, he will be called back.
While it may have come as a shock for a few, given that he
was in the contention for the TN captaincy at the beginning of the season, this
could well turn out to be a blessing in disguise for him.
Since
the advent of IPL, Abhinav has tried, quite unsuccessfully, to adjust/modify his game
to the shorter format. It was obvious to those who watched him closely that he
was not made out for that version of the game but it has taken a few years for him to accept that reality.
Unfortunately
for Tamil Nadu and for himself, Abhinav tried to experiment this in the longer
form of the game- the Ranji Trophy, an immediate example that comes to mind is
his first over dismissal against Rajasthan in the Ranji Final when TN was
chasing over 600. It would have been ideal situation for him to have played out
200overs but he chose a one day shot in the first over the innings a clear
indication that he was in that kind of mind set at that time.
In a
challenger trophy match this season, chasing 350+ in 50overs, Abhinav scored
80+ at just under run a ball not good enough chasing 7+ an over, especially given
that he batted for 30+overs.It was here in the one-dayers that he could have tried his experimentation, unfortunately he tried the other way around.
He has
been for a long time now trying to do something that is so unAbhinav like.
At the
beginning of the season, when I brought up the issue of form, it was justified by
the powers that be that he was one of the few in the country in the recent past who had scored the
kind of runs that he has amassed in such a short time frame. Fair Point - And he is still not 25!!!
A few
matches into the season, he scratched around through the whole of day 1 to
score a century in 90overs. That was understandable, said a source in the TNCA who
backed him at the beginning of the season. The fact that he went on to score a
double century was also so typical of him to convert a century into a big knock,
the source said.
However,
what he failed to do was to follow up that knock in the latter part of the
season especially when it mattered.
And the
shot he played against Bengal in the QF possibly made the selectors take the big
call to drop him. It was a one day shot in a Ranji match, notwithstanding the
supposed turning track. It was okay for LR Shukla to play the kind of knock he
played, one that turned out to be the match winning knock for Bengal. But not
Abhinav or a Badri ( the latter too perished with an untypical Badri shot in
that innings).
The
source said that it was disappointing to see him play that kind of a stroke- a
cross batted sweep that found the only fielder in the deep on the leg. ‘It
would have been fine for a Vijay or a Dinesh to play that kind of strokes but
not Abhinav.’
This may
well be a blessing in disguise for Abhinav. If he takes the time off here at
the end of the season to analyse his strengths (and limitations), he may well
find that making big scores in Ranji would be the way forward for him. And he
should be eyeing the Indian Test squad rather than the IPL or the one day
squad.
It would
be good for him to use the next year to get back to the kind of cricket that
has fetched him runs every time he has gone to bat including several of the big
innings he has played for TN in Ranji - patience, long knocks, sticking to strokes
that have brought him boundaries.
It is
unlikely that he will find a place in the TN T20 squad this year unless
something dramatic happens in the next fortnight-month.( Without him, TN has qualified for the national one-dayers winning its first three matches last week in the South Zone Qualifiers)
Abhinav
will do well to get back to the basics even in the remaining matches in the 1st
division league here. And then focus the summer and the beginning of next
season on scoring big runs to get back his place in the test squad.
Hope
good sense will prevail. If it does, Abhinav may still have a long career ahead
of him at the test level, for there is little doubt about his ability to play
the long innings. If he still has his mind on proving himself in T20 and One-dayers,
he may lose time to get back into the test squad. And he may, like he has done
in the last two Ranji seasons lose his sense of run making in the Ranji format
of the game as well.
One
hopes that the powers that be in TN cricket will take him into confidence and
direct him on the right path which really is in the longer form of the game.
PS: L Balaji and Badrinath should also be hanging by the thread given their performances in the last 1-2years
Will the TN selectors take a call on them as well.. Watch out for this section in the coming months!!
http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2007/09/cricket-pick-of-month-abhinav-mukund.html
http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2011/11/abhinav-mukund-focus-on-cricket-not.html
PS: L Balaji and Badrinath should also be hanging by the thread given their performances in the last 1-2years
Will the TN selectors take a call on them as well.. Watch out for this section in the coming months!!
http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2007/09/cricket-pick-of-month-abhinav-mukund.html
http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2011/11/abhinav-mukund-focus-on-cricket-not.html
1 comment:
Very nice article .Deserved to be dropped for few games. This is my view.
(From the US)
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