Indian selectors ignored IPL performances for the Champions Trophy squad and that’s a good thing

The BCCI on Monday finally decided it was worth Indian cricketers’ time to defend their Champions Trophy title. Once the squad was announced, the only surprise was that there were absolutely no surprises in the 15-member team that will fly to England after the IPL.

And the moment the squad was announced, the meme-makers were out in full force. “Gautam Gambhir has been so good in this IPL and yet ignored. Reason? Virat Kohli, the selfish politician,” said one. “How can we get another Sachin Tendulkar if the BCCI continues to ignore young Indian cricketers who do well in IPL,” screamed another with a hastily made collage of the likes of Rishabh Pant. Nitish Rana, Basil Thampi.

The fact that the IPL exploits of some promising young cricketers were pretty much ignored in selecting the squad for a 50-over-format emerged as the biggest outrage-worthy talking point.

In the past, the reverse has usually been true. Every time an Indian squad was announced on the heels of an IPL edition, the clamour was against including players based just on their IPL form. Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Manpreet Gony, Ravindra Jadeja (all those years back) are a few names that come to mind.

But this time around the selectors have firmly gone for pedigree in the ODI format over performances in the IPL. And rightly so. While the bowlers in the squad have picked themselves — IPL form or otherwise — it’s the lineup of batsmen that has seemingly caused a storm in a tea-cup.

The flip side of this coin is that the batsmen in the current squad are not really in the best of form. Among the eight proper batsmen selected, only Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, and Kedar Jadhav feature in the top 20 run-getters in this IPL. There are nine other names in that list who did not make the cut to travel to England and Wales. There is a good case to be made that the BCCI are sending a team that is woefully short of form.

But that would ignore the fact that representing India at arguably the toughest ICC tournament to win (remember, only the top eight teams in the world play the Champions Trophy) is not the same as doing well in the IPL.

For starters, the 50-over format still remains a different beast compared to T20s. Successful T20 players have often struggled in the ODIs over the years and there’s a good reason for that. There is more nuance involve in 50-over cricket. There is a pressing need for being not just technically sound but temperamentally strong.

There is also the conditions to take into account. With the tournament happening in early British summer, the ability to counter the moving ball will be a big factor in how well the batsmen do. This is where selecting someone like Ajinkya Rahane makes more sense than blooding Pant or playing Gambhir, who has a long-standing weakness against the moving ball.

And finally, there is the question of stability. India’s ODI set-up, after a couple of years tinkering under MS Dhoni, finally sports a settled look. There were fewer question marks over the composition of the team after the three-match series against England than before it. Jadhav established himself in the middle order alongside Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni. Kohli is un-droppable. Rohit Sharma was always going to walk back into the side after his injury layoff. And with KL Rahul injured, the opening slot was the only one up for any real debate — and ironically enough, Shikhar Dhawan would have perhaps been selected irrespective of his position as the second highest run-scorer in this IPL.

It really would have been the easier decision to go with the flow and select Pant, Gambhir or Robin Uthappa. But, by resisting the temptation to go with the clamour for picking youngsters based on a few whirlwind knocks in the IPL, the selectors have made the right call by picking the best possible combination for Kohli to defend the Champions Trophy.