Mobilising troops for the Colonel

Fortunately, Mumbai reached the Ranji Trophy final and the match was held at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The match coincided with the meeting of the selection committee "" same time, same place "" to choose the squad for the series against Sri Lanka.

As a consequence, West Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary has been embedded to the team, albeit as a substitute fielder. Be that as it may, Tiwary shares the dressing room with Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Kumble. The move also sends the message that domestic performance is acknowledged.

Vengsarkar, as a player, provided us with many a moment of joy and pride, such as the 2-0 brown wash of England in England in 1986-87. As the selection committee chairman, he has rightly taken the reins of Team India, which Dravid had happily handed over to Chappell. Only his myopia "" as seen in his statement that the cupboard of cricketing talent was bare beyond the national 11 "" jarred.

Tiwary, after Uthappa, is the second instance of the chairman proving that he is not a prisoner of his own statements. This has emboldened Umpire's Post to point out to him a few jewels that are shining in the cupboard that is certainly not bare.

Uthappa needs no highlighting, but Tiwary does. The lad has scored 796 runs in seven matches at an average of 99.50 (evocative trivia: his average would be 100 had he scored a mere four runs more in the final). He dominates international class bowlers; Zaheer and Agarkar would testify to this.

Medium pace bowler Ranadeb Bose, also of Bengal, must be taken note of if 58 wickets in nine matches at 15 runs apiece with six five-fors and two match hauls of 10 or more deserve to be taken note of. Akash Chopra's opening partnerships with Sehwag provided the bedrock of India's fine showing on the last tour to Australia. Well, he is still playing. Dropping him was an instance of selection arbitrariness. His 650 runs at an average of 50, with 188 as the highest, may merit a reconsideration.

R P Singh, our bright young hope till the other day, snared 39 wickets at an average cost of 18.10 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara (600 runs, eight matches, average 50) has kept Saurashtra afloat.

There may be a yawning gap between the domestic and international levels, but there is no other yardstick available. Vengsarkar himself first came to prominence in the 1970s when hitting Bedi and Prasanna to all corners of the ground in an Irani Trophy match in Colonel C K Nayudu's home town, Nagpur.

The similarity in shot-making with India's first captain also earned him the nickname of Colonel. Now is the time to marshal the troops.