Gautam kept on the sidelines

BANGALORE: To state that Kings XI Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist snapped Royal Challengers Bangalore's winning streak last Tuesday with his astonishing batting alone would be an understatement. The Aussie wicketkeeper followed up his pyrotechnics with impressive glove-work to ensure an emphatic victory for the Kings. Gilly stood up to pacer Praveen Kumar to negate RCB opener ChrisGayle's wild out-of-the-crease charges, later took a splendid diving catch todismiss the dangerous Jamaican off Ryan Harris and effected a smart stumping todismiss Mohammad Kaif. Analyzing the 111-run drubbing, the RCB team management, however, might find it difficult to tick the wicket-keeping column, a more crucial aspect on a small ground where the fine-leg and third man boundaries were quite short. Despite having a specialist wicket-keeper of AB de Villiers' quality in the eleven, RCB had gone with the makeshift choice KB Arun Karthik for the third consecutive match. Karthik inarguably has beena brilliant fielder for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit, particularly atpoint and cover, but his work behind the stumps for RCB was hardly encouraging.Even his collection wasn't impressive, clearly indicating his lack of confidenceand experience in the job. RCB coach Ray Jennings, a former wicket-keeper himself, didn't miss the point. "A wicket-keeper is a big influence all the time irrespective of the size of the field. Good wicket-keeping does make a big difference," said Jennings. Asked whyAB wasn't persisted with for the specialist job, Jennings reasoned: "AB bringslot of energy on to the field (as a fielder). He was superb against RajasthanRoyals and that sort of impact will inspire the entire fielding unit," reasonedthe South African. A specialist wicket-keeper can be an advantagefor more than one reason. "The confidence of a bowler in the wicket-keeper isimportant. If a bowler is worried about the 'keeper's skills, that will restrictthe former's options, particularly the variations," felt Jennings.That brings into the picture another strange choice: Karthik pipping homegrown talent and specialist wicket-keeper CM Gautam, a selection which has raised quite a few eyebrows. "Both are good cricketers but quitedifferent players. CM is definitely the better wicket-keeper. But when thebatting aspect comes into the picture, we felt Karthik lends more balance to theside. Selection is a funny thing and an opportunity given never means that oneplayer is good and the other is bad. Gautam's chance might not be far off,"opined the coach. Gautam has been part of the RCB side for three seasons but is yet to make his IPL debut. "He is getting better all the time. I have seen him mature in the last two years and his future looks good with us," said Jennings. A former Karnataka cricketer and an active figure inthe state coaching set-up was baffled by Gautam's exclusion. "He has keptwickets for South Zone in Duleep Trophy. If he is good enough to keep at thezonal level, it is high time he is given a breakthrough in IPL. As far asbatting is concerned, he has done well in Ranji cricket, contributing sometop-quality runs under pressure situations and also is a free-flowingstroke-maker. Probably he is not exposed enough at the T20 level," noted thecricketer. Gautam had missed the Syed Mushtaq Ali inter-state T20tourney due to injury. He didn't do justice to his batting talent in the lastedition of the Karnataka Premier League though an injury picked up midwaythrough the T20 event troubled him big time.