Debasis Sen: Former India captain and ex- selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar feels giving opportunity to the right guy at the right time is key for Indian cricket team to do well in the future. In an interview with RevSportz, Vengsarkar indirectly criticized the present selectors lacking a vision.
“Cricket we all know is a very popular sport in India and we have so many players right from different age levels to first class cricket. The most important thing I feel is you must spot the talent and groom them at the National Cricket Academy before they go on to represent the country. Giving opportunity to a youngster at the right time is very important.”
He added, “We need to develop our bench strength because that is very important. Unless you have bench strength you cannot do well in any formats. And I am sure we have tremendous talent in the country and in the next 10-15 years we can do well.”
On being asked whether young talent like Yashasvi Jaiswal should be given an opportunity straghtaway in the senior team starting with the tour of upcoming tour to the West Indies, Vengsarkar said, “Yes, there are lot of young talents coming up. Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the players for the future. Ruturaj Gaikwad is another one. The selectors need to spot some fast bowlers and spinners who could win you matches and that is very important.”
There has been a lot of talks about the selection of the Indian team in the recently concluded ICC World Test Championship Final against Australia. Experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was not included in the playing XI.
Vengsarkar chose to give a diplomatic reply by saying, “Nobody is happy with the selection as people feels X and Y should be there in the team. You cannot make everyone happy. Every selector has his view point and they go about according to their instinct. But I am sure India have a very bright future with lot of young talents coming up. It was a tremendous achievement by the team to reach the final of World Test Championship and I hope in future we will do better.”