Mumbai selectors add to team's woes with their choices

MUMBAI: Having sacked the coach and selectors following a dismal last season, one thought the custodians of Mumbai cricket were on a war footing to turn around the fortunes of the domestic powerhouses. The squad for the first Ranji Trophy game against Jammu & Kashmir, which begins at the Wankhede from December 7, however, indicates something else.
For starters, opener Kaustubh Pawar, who was named in the 15-man squad on Saturday, is doubtful for the match, owing to a shoulder injury."He has a problem with his throwing arm and has gone for a CT scan today," Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Jt secretary Nitin Dalal told TOI on Monday.
He said the selection committee wasn't aware of this issue while picking the team, and only looked at his form, which has been impressive in local tournaments of late. Pawar had a miserable Ranji season last time, managing merely 244 runs in seven games @17.42, before he was dropped.
The 24-year-old wasn't even named in the 45-man probables' list in June, and didn't play in the three warm-up tournaments that Mumbai participated in before the season. According to a source in the MCA, he was asked to join the Mumbai training camp a month back, which he didn't.
"It is a clear case of miscommunication. Either the player should have informed the MCA about his injury, or the association should have tried to find out about his status. Since he didn't report to the camp, the Mumbai physio too didn't know about the injury," said the source.
The selection of another player in the squad, who has never been included in the Mumbai probables' list before but has played one game for another First Class team, also puts a question mark over the utility of the warm-up tournaments, on which the association spends a fair bit to help the team gain match practice prior to the season.
The exercise of naming the probables, who then undergo fitness tests and prepare themselves accordingly for the season, also seems futile if an in-form, but 'unfit' player is preferred. A couple of batsmen on the either side of the experience scale must consider themselves unlucky to miss the bus.
For the past couple of seasons, Hiken Shah has been performing consistently at No. 3 (773 runs in 10 games@55.21, with three hundreds and four fifties in 201213, and 428 runs in seven games@38.90, with one hundred and one fifty).
The lefthander led Mumbai in the Buchi Babu tournament, but finds himself out in the cold now. Keeping an eye on the future, wouldn't it have been a good idea to blood 17-year-old Sarfaraz Khan, who has been scoring runs at every level?
A better, more visionary selection policy may just help the 40-time Ranji champs bounce back faster.