I have said this before as well, but the problem for India is, while there is backup for almost every position in the side, the difference between the back ups and the main players is not as big as you generally want it to be, whether be it in performance, stats, domestic form or even in terms of "class" (which is a rather vague term esp. when used in the context of selection)... Dhoni doesn't leap out as a test match keeper/batsman to me, inspite of his amazingly improved glove work and neither Karthik nor Parthiv are suggesting they would be DEFINITELY better either, both in batting and keeping.
The same applies to the medium pacers... Ishant LOOKS like a big talent but again, as a wicket taking force, you can't say he is heads and shoulders above the likes of Zaheer Khan, RPS, Sreesanth etc. Pathan and Praveen Kumar don't really convince as all rounders either and if they are to be played as bowlers, again they don't look like they are THAT much better than the other options.
And Harbhajan doesn't exactly jump out as the best spin option either (leaving aside Kumble, obviously) when compared to Murali Kartik or even Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla and even Amit Mishra. Everyone seems to be doing well but no one really stands out, apart from the 5 giants in the side ... The 4 middle order batsmen and Kumble. Even among the middle order guys in waiting, the gulf is really not big enough between the likes of Yuvraj, Badrinath, Rohit Sharma etc. And then you have the likes of Kaif and Raina who are still scoring big in the domestic FC scene.
It is the same with the openers... Sehwag seems to have cemented one test openers' spot for the moment, but given the way he plays, you never know... A bad run always seems around the corner. Jaffar is much the same, except that the way he scores the runs is a little opposite to Sehwag. Gambhir keeps scoring heaps at the FC level but you can still the problems in his technique. Same with Uthappa. And Chopra too, I feel, has a bit of a problem with his technique in playing bouncy incoming deliveries or quickish inswing. Karthik seems to have a problem about shot selection.
All in all, while we do seem to have a decent POOL of players to choose from, I am really not sure if any of them really stand out and demand selection majority of the times over others. We have to keep going by form and gut feel, more than anything else. And I guess we will see countless number of X would have been better had he played instead of Y arguments over and over again here and in other forums...
And I am sure I will be a part of them too.....
Sooner or later the lackeys that run our cricket will realize that you can't mess with peoples careers.. Black or white, players want to know that they are the best players in the country, and before that happens, we'll have the current situation..
