 Is the yardstick different for Gautam Gambhir?
17th Mar 2008 22:01 IST
Manish Kumar
Despite his heroics with the bat on the recent tour of Australia and emerging as the highest run-getter in the Tri-Series, Gautam Gambhir has not been named in the Indian squad for the forthcoming Test series against South Africa.
The left-handed Gambhir, who emerged as the highest run-getter in the Tri-Series in Australia with an aggregate of 440 runs from 10 matches, was not picked as the selectors preferred to retain Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer despite his indifferent form in recent times.
Interestingly, it was against South Africa that Jaffer entered Test cricket for the first time - in a home series in 2000. An experienced bowling duo of Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald however proved too difficult for Jaffer to cope with, and he managed just 46 runs from his four innings. Now neither Pollock nor Donald will be there to trouble him, as both have retired from the game.
But coming back to Gambhir, it must have been a very difficult decision to swallow that despite being in an excellent nick, he was not selected.
Being unable to sustain a permanent spot in the Indian team has been a bane for the diminutive aggressive opener ever since he started his international career.
Gambhir had been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50 but his two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot.
Gambhir became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home, the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Making his Test debut in 2004 against Australia in the fourth and last Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Gambhir did himself no favours by getting out for 3 and 1. He made amends in his second Test, however, scoring 96 against the South Africans and bettered it by scoring his maiden Test century came against Bangladesh in December 2004.
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