India's 2015 World Cup squad: The blame lies beyond Stuart Binny and Yuvraj Singh

Stuart Binny of India reacts after being dismissed during the ODI between England and India at the Gabba in Brisbane on January 20, 2015.

After the Indian selectors announced the 15-man squad for the 2015 World Cup, there was one thing that cricket fans all over the country agreed on: the squad was pretty much along the expected lines, except maybe the selection of seam bowling all-rounder Stuart Binny.

There were quite a few points raised against Binny: that he was a bits and pieces player; that he averaged only 13.33 with the bat and had only 9 wickets to his name, 6 of which were against Bangladesh; that he wasn’t international class; and, worst of all, a section of fans pointed their fingers at his father Roger Binny’s presence in the selection panel, thereby bringing nepotism into the mix.

Binny has his case

Let’s leave the World Cup selection for now and look at whether his national selection, in general, was based on merit.

Representing Karnataka in the domestic circuit, Binny ended the 2011-12 Ranji season as the team’s leading run-getter (742 runs at an average of 67.45 in 8 matches) and second-leading wicket-taker (20 wickets at 20.10).

He followed it up with 612 runs in 9 FC matches in 2012-13 at an average of 47.07 and was the team’s third-leading run-getter behind CM Gautam and Robin Uthappa. He also had 19 wickets to his name. Binny had to miss a few matches in the 2013-14 season as a result of his national commitments. In the matches he played, he averaged 40 with the bat, scoring 321 in 6 matches, besides picking up 11 wickets.

His ability to adapt to fast-paced formats was there for everyone to see in the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where his finishing abilities proved to be one of the highlights of his franchise Rajasthan Royals’ successful campaign under Rahul Dravid. Striking at a rate of 147.23, he performed his role as a finisher admirably well, clearing ropes with ease.

If these don’t merit you a trial in Indian colours with the World Cup in conditions that demand a fast bowling all-rounder, I don’t see what will.

When it comes to limited overs cricket, we love players with style, flair and age by their side, and Binny didn’t have any of it. We scorned at him, like the way we scorn at late bloomers, like the way we look down on those who don’t make a statement in the first few chances they get.

But was it his mistake? How would a batting all-rounder show his worth in 63 deliveries? That’s the number of balls that he had faced in his ODI career spread over 6 matches till that point. In the 4 innings that he got a chance to bat, he came in at No.7 twice and at No.8 twice.

Let’s put things into perspective. No, I don’t think Binny has it in him to succeed at the international level. But I never thought Ravindra Jadeja would do well as a finisher, either.

Binny has his limitations. I don’t see him swatting back a bouncer. I don’t see him lasting long if the ball moves around. But if you miss your length or if you are a spinner, you have a good chance of seeing your deliveries sail past the ropes.

Had he been put through the India A drill, we would have understood if he is really capable of doing it at the highest level. He wasn’t, and you can’t hold him responsible for it. So, who needs to be blamed? It is something that I address later in the article.

The not-so-compelling replacements

Let’s now come to those players who, according to popular opinion, deserved a spot ahead of him.

When asked to name a player who could have been picked ahead of the 30-year-old, the replies took some time to come. Then, they tried making sense:

Robin Uthappa – A player who has featured in only 7 international matches (5 ODIs + 2 T20Is) in the last 6 years?

Manoj Tiwary – Someone who has only played a total of 12 internationals (9 ODIs + 3 T20Is) in his entire career?

Murali Vijay – His ODI career statistics read: 253 runs in 13 innings at an average of 19.46 and a strike-rate of 66.40 with a highest score of 33. However, despite his miserable records, there was some logic behind asking for his selection. Vijay has shown remarkable improvement in the past couple of years to become one of India’s leading Test players, playing within himself, curbing his T20-influenced aggressive instincts – which nearly ruined his career after a promising international debut – and scoring in challenging conditions.

Agreed, it is a different format. Agreed, he has had his troubles while trying to accelerate. But with the top order woes the team has had of late while playing away from India, it was a risk worth taking. Looking at how Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane have performed in the two ODIs of the ongoing Carlton Mid ODI tri-series and historically (excluding England), the team management would have loved to have someone who is capable of seeing the difficult passage out. Apart from the century at the MCG, Rohit Sharma’s ODI records overseas don’t inspire confidence too.

Sanju Samson – You mean you are going to give a kid an international debut in the World Cup? Or you think the team would go out of its way to give him some playing time in the tri-series?

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir – You do realise that a player has to be in the 30-man squad to be picked for the World Cup, right?

Yuvraj Singh – There are two sides to the coin

Although it was obvious that Yuvraj Singh wouldn’t be picked, there were a couple of factors that had increased the hopes on him making it to the final 15 despite him not being in the 30-man squad: his hat-trick of tons in the Ranji Trophy in the lead up to the final 15 selection meeting on January 6 and him being an ideal replacement to Ravindra Jadeja, who was under an injury cloud.

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj, one of the main reasons why India, now, go into the World Cup as the defending champions, has had an extremely difficult period both on and off the field since April 2011. He was diagnosed with a germ cell tumour on February 2012 and had to travel to the United States to continue his treatment. Managing to recover completely, he returned to India on April 9, 2012.

There are a set of reasons put forward for his exclusion from the World Cup squad:

Since recovering from the medical issues, he averages a lowly 18.53 with the bat in 19 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and has only picked up 2 wickets.

As far as the hat-trick of hundreds is concerned, runs in Ranji have not necessarily been translated to runs in international cricket. Indian players getting axed, going back to Ranji and scoring tons of runs has become a practice now. Every time Rohit and Raina get dropped, they go back to Ranji, plunder runs, show no signs of technical issues, and, as a result, have a career First Class average of 57 and 43 respectively. Their Test careers, however, haven’t really taken off and ODI performances away from home still remains a question mark despite having played 332 one-dayers between them.

For an Indian cricketer dropped towards the latter stages of his career, the domestic shows don’t suffice. It is not logical to expect someone like Binny to prove himself anywhere else except where he gets a chance to play, while Yuvraj, on the other hand, can land a county contract and show his worth. And it makes sense in expecting an international player to go the extra mile.

Besides, following the announcement of the squad, he has been dismissed for 3, 35 and 14 in his three innings respectively. You can also play it down saying that there is hardly any motivation for him to continue on now.

Beyond all these, his career ODI statistics in overseas conditions haven’t been great: he averages 30.35 in Australia, 21.27 in New Zealand, 23.47 in South Africa and 34.29 in England. It says a lot about the difference in his performances in and outside Asia. And there is a reason why he wasn’t successful in Test cricket. Yuvraj has been found wanting several times against both quality pace and quality spin.

But if you think this is why Yuvraj Singh didn’t deserve to be on the plane to Australia, you don’t see the real issue.

Is the cupboard good enough to close the door on Yuvraj? (In pic – Ambati Rayudu)

Stats can take a backseat

It’s not like we have an AB de Villiers at No.4 (Kohli is No.3). So, you got to compare Yuvraj with those who compete with him for his spot: Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu. Rahane looks a misfit in the middle order. Rayudu doesn’t seem assured against the swing and bounce. Neither of them can clear bigger boundaries: a basic requirement for a player who bats at that position. For Raina, it is too high to escape the bouncer trap. Dhoni wouldn’t promote himself for reasons best known to him.

The pitches are flattening, but the boundaries still remain the same. You need players with power. And regarding his career numbers outside Asia, maybe, just maybe, there is more to him than what the stats say.

Not many players can boast of ending up as the Man-of-the-tournament in three World Cup winning campaigns: Under-19 World Cup 2000, T20 World Cup 2007, ODI World Cup 2011. Not many would have foreseen him doing the support cast to Sachin Tendulkar in the Chennai Test match against England on a Day 5 pitch; he ended up scoring an unbeaten 131-ball 85 to help India chase down 387 runs.

Not many players can turn a match on its head as he did in the WC T20 2007 semi-final, against Australia at Durban. When he came in, the scoreboard was reading 42-2 in 8 overs and Australia had taken a stranglehold of the game. He went on to change the course of the match with a 30-ball 70. When he left, India were 155-4 in 17.3 overs.

And how can one forget the Yuvraj-Kaif Lord’s classic in 2002?

Whichever way, the fact still stands: he didn’t do much on the field in the lead up to the World Cup to get picked. But was it his fault alone? Was Yuvraj’s comeback into international cricket arena worked out properly? I believe he was rushed back, and that in turn has left his cricketing career in a state of disarray. 33 is not an age to be thrown out of the set-up.

Yuvraj's comeback was botched up

4 months after coming back from the United States, in September 2012, Yuvraj was representing India in a T20 match against New Zealand. He wasn’t part of the IPL. He wasn’t asked to prove his fitness in the domestic circuit. He wasn’t put to test in India A tours, especially with the Champions Trophy and World Cup away from home. He was picked solely on reputation and sentiments. As expected, he struggled his way through the matches, yet managed to play two T20 World Cups. And that stretch of poor run has now accounted for his spot in the tournament that matters the most.

Would things have been different had his resurgence been planned? How would it have been had he played a season of domestic cricket, IPL, and India A tours before playing his first international match? Anyone who has tracked his career would be able to tell that he was back to his best towards the latter stages of the 2014 IPL. The fluency in shot making returned, and it took some time coming. You don’t expect a player to go through intensive chemotherapy and start playing as he did before he fell sick. This is where the selectors missed a trick.

He had to struggle for a year or so. Unfortunately for him, those struggles now count as a failure in the international circuit. Had they come in domestic matches, it would have been looked at as a recovery road. But not anymore.

How do you rate Yuvraj the limited overs player? To me, he is a match-winner on good batting decks, capable of taking apart any bowling attack. It doesn’t make sense if you demand him to prove himself on turners and green wickets. He has hardly done it, and he will hardly do it now.

But what separates him from batsmen who just feast on flat decks is that he rises to the occasion when the stakes are high. You can bring anything – the bowlers, the pitch, it wouldn’t matter; he will win matches for you. And that’s more than enough. Not everyone can be a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid.

Not just Yuvraj, be it Uthappa, Tiwary or Vijay, we never had plans for any of them. And here is why I think the selectors and the team management are at fault, not just the players.

Was the Indian team ever on track?

Kuldeep Yadav

What were we doing with Kuldeep Yadav a couple of months back? The 20-year-old was fast-tracked into the national team for the series against West Indies on the back of an excellent IPL and U-19 World Cup in 2014, only for him to be dropped for the very next series without being given a single chance. When we already have three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, what was the need for the fourth? And that too only 3.5 months ahead of the World Cup, which is to be held in conditions that hardly assist spin?

So, what if he had got a chance and picked a 5-for? Would he have been picked ahead of the 3? Or will we go into the tournament with 4 spinners in the squad? Depending on oppositions, Australia don’t even play a single spinner in their team – which shows how ‘big’ a role slow bowlers will play in the tournament.

Go back a little further. What made the selectors pick Sanju Samson for the England limited-overs leg in 2014? Again, Samson was a pick based on IPL and U-19 exploits. Again, he wasn’t given a single opportunity and dropped for the very next series. What does this indicate? Were these panic moves looking at India’s performances in South Africa and New Zealand, where the team had looked out of sorts?

Were these players pushed by the selectors against the will of the team management? It raises a lot of uncomfortable questions.

The team’s unwillingness to experiment at the right time meant they had to base their World Cup campaign on players who had cemented their places in the side based on home exploits. This team is more or less the same team that won the Champions Trophy in 2013. In England, India were helped by tracks that assisted spin, which made sure Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja dictated the terms. The duo bowled 82 overs in the tournament, picking up 20 wickets for 335 runs at just over 4 runs per over.

Shiva Jayaraman, writing for ESPNcricinfo, observed: “The stats seem to validate the premise - the average and the strike rate of spin bowlers in this Champions Trophy were the best in all the editions of the tournament - and that is an interesting evidence considering that three of the seven editions have been played in the subcontinent.”

Don't expect the favour to be repeated this time around.

The biggest mistake

What was the use of the quadrangular A-team one-day series that was held in Australia in July-August 2014? Neither the team’s leading run-getter, Samson, nor the leading wicket-taker, Dhawal Kulkarni, has been picked for the World Cup. While Samson never got a chance, Kulkarni, despite picking up 8 wickets in the 3 ODIs he played after the series, has been dropped too.

On the other hand, Robin Uthappa, who took IPL 2014 by storm, was found out in the quadrangular series as an opener. Could he have been better as a floater, especially with the team struggling to find its No. 4? I believe he would have been an exciting addition to the squad. But how do we know? The management didn’t even think about testing him in any other alternative role.

Did the selectors really think Yuvraj wasn’t good enough to be on the list of the best 30 players in the country? Assuming he had made it to the 30-man squad, would he have been picked for the World Cup – given his form in the build up to the tournament? Again, how do we know? The selectors didn’t even entertain that possibility.

Kedar Jadhav, the most dynamic among all our No. 4 options, wasn’t anywhere close to making the squad too. The right-hander was the second-leading run-scorer for India A in the quadrangular series despite only playing 4 of the 7 matches: 3 fifties in 4 innings at an average of 56.25 and a strike-rate of 119.68.

Thanks to the selectors and the team management, the defending champions enter the World Cup without knowing what their best playing XI is in those conditions – and the effect is there for everyone to see, with the team losing its first two ODIs in the ongoing tri-series, to Australia and England respectively.

The blame sure does lie beyond Stuart Binny and Yuvraj Singh.