India A vs West Indies: Auditions begin sans the hype

MUMBAI: One thing that was hard to miss in the good old days was the buzz surrounding the start of an international season at home. There was a general sense of expectancy in the air on what the series has on offer for the fans. There would be animated discussions, analysis and interesting player versus player debates in offices, trains and educational institutions.
Sadly, with cricket spreading itself thin in different forms in recent times, the 'buzz' was conspicuous by its absence as the West Indies trained ahead of their first practice match against India 'A' without a fan in sight at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
What's more, there were only eleven players from the visiting team practising under an unforgiving sun. The remaining four - that includes skipper Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine - were on duty for their respective IPL clubs, playing in the Champions League T20.
Had the Barbados Tridents made it to the semifinals of the CLT20, it would have been interesting to know what would have been the fate of the warm-up games as two members of the 15-man squad - Ravi Rampaul and Jason Holder only joined the team on Thursday.
The word from the West Indies dressing room was that they have called in a couple of local players as reserves on match day. On the brighter side, the game is a List A fixture which, if anything, should add value to it.
The India 'A', squad, too, wore a depleted look as they trained in the morning under coach Lalchand Rajput's watchful eyes. Opener Murali Vijay and Maharashtra's dashing batsman Kedar Jadhav were not present at the ground.
Vijay was expected to join the squad later in the evening, while Jadhav became the latest injured player to be picked by the current bunch of selectors. "Jadhav is injured and we should get his replacement before the second side game on Sunday," coach Rajput said.
Even though performances in practice games are taken with a pinch of salt as the visiting team doesn't really press too hard, the selectors would like to see a few players do well.
Vijay for one as the India Test opener is tipped to fill in the opener's slot in place of Rohit Sharma, who according to media reports has been ruled out for three months with an injured shoulder. Young Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson, who didn't get a game in England, too, will be watched closely.
The Indian ODI squad in England consisted of six seamers, including all-rounder Stuart Binny and it is unlikely that the selectors will have that many for a home series.
If it all they may bring in an extra spinner as backup for Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin. Although the tried and tested Amit Mishra and Parvez Rasool are in the India 'A' squad, it remains to be seen if they get picked ahead of Gujarat's Akshar Patel, who continues to impress.