Rahul Dravid has finally got a "long term" stint as the captain of India. Interestingly, this "long term" is only restricted to two ODI series. Furthermore, the selectors have done their best to select the worst possible team by holding back talents like Laxman, Mongia, and Kumble. With Kaif also out of the way due to injury, Jaggu's plan is obvious i.e. to make the team lose by selecting mediocre and raw players like Venugopal, Agarkar, Raina, and ignoring Laxman, Mongia, and Zaheer Khan. I must say Sreesanth is a good choice, but he will take time to settle down. Besides, Sachin will also take time to get into his groove. Zaheer Khan's omission is baffling, considering he's the only experienced pace bowler in Indian team who bowls well on flat Indian pitches. Pathan has struggled on Indian pitches and with Nehra's injury Indian bowling has become too weak. Two big series losses (thanks to the poor team selection) will put Jaggu's pet, Ganguly, back on track.
I watch cricket as an escape from dirty politics, but sadly I see the same politics has engulfed Indian cricket. BCCI, media, and cricket experts are calling him a long-term captain, which is absolutely ridiculous. Right now, he's neither an adhoc captain nor a full-time captain. How can you appoint a full-time captain without officially dethroning the current captain? This is highly unethical and political. Dravid should have been the permanent captain or the selectors should have chosen Dravid or someone else for an adhoc job. This two-series-captain mess is utterly nonsense. When Steve Waugh became the ODI captain in 1998, he was appointed for the 1999 world cup and futher on. It wasn't just for 1-2 series. In 2002, Ricky Ponting held the position on a long-term basis, even beyond the 2003 world cup.
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