Big gloves, hard yards, tough luck

Perplexing decisions by selectors or team management are hardly rare but somehow wicketkeepers in particular are the ones who have been at the receiving end of some notable omissions inclusions and exit ordersThe recent decision to release the seemingly unfit Rishabh Pant from the ODI squad in Bangladesh with no detailed explanation given and have KL Rahul keep wickets for the series is yet another wicketkeeperrelated call which the BCCI donrsquot believe it is our business to know more aboutThat Rahul himself told the media that he had no idea what was wrong with Pant is testimony that BCCIrsquos opaque ways are not only restricted to the media but also to playersThe case of Rahul who also said that he was ready to don the big gloves whenever needed provides an indication that he is being considered for the dual role at next yearrsquos ODI World Cup in IndiaThis reminds me of how present head coach Rahul Dravid started keeping wickets in oneday cricket regularly in 200102 and did so during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa tooThis move albeit extraordinary didnrsquot attract too much chestbeating But there have been decisions regarding wicketkeepers which either became burning issues like Dinesh Karthik or Pant in the playing XI for T20 World Cup games or sources of trivia like Indiarsquos 1971 team in England having three wicketkeepers ndash Farokh Engineer P Krishnamurthy and Syed KirmaniIrsquoll provide you instances in both cases controversy and trivia while it is hoped India can solve their wicketkeeping conundrumFor starters a famous case of nonselection Budhi Kunderan opened the batting and bowling in the first innings of the Edgbaston Test while Farokh Engineer kept wickets against England in 1967 only to find himself dropped for the 196768 tour of Australia The selectors opted for KS Indrajitsinhji as Engineerrsquos understudy and Kunderanrsquos international career was over Even Hanumant Singh was shockingly not included in MAK Pataudirsquos side that lost 04Four years later Biharrsquos Daljit Singh was primed to go on the West Indies tour but his junior East Zone colleague Rusi Jeejeebhoy was picked by Vijay Merchantrsquos committeeBy the way did you know that India had three different wicketkeepers for the first three Tests against the 195960 visiting Australian team They were Nana Joshi in Delhi Naren Tamhane in Kanpur where India won their firstever Test against the Australians and debutant Kunderan for the Mumbai Test Kunderan told me on one of his visits to the city that he didnrsquot have a decent pair of gloves for his debut He went from maidan club to maidan club to check if he could borrow a pair and found luck only when Tamhane offered him his Talking of gloves John Arlott the distinguished English broadcaster and writer once told the story of George Brown who used to drive around the country on a big motorbike He decided to practise for the final Test of the 1926 Ashes series at The Oval with his motorcycle gauntlets which Arlott said ldquoproved inadequaterdquo as he broke a finger He was out of the Test and Herbert Strudwick continued to keep wickets for England in the seriesEnglandrsquos Bob Taylor had to wait for eternity to become the regular stumper for his country He did so only when Alan Knott signed up for World Series Cricket Taylor was the selectorsrsquo choice for Englandrsquos victorious tour of India in 197677 but captain Tony Greig wrote in My Story that he pressed for Roger Tolchard and got a fair share of criticism for it Greig knew that the Leicestershire man was not the best stumper in England but he wanted to use him as a batsman which he did for four of the five TestsIndiarsquos Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit were part of the Leeds Test XI in 1986 with Pandit playing as a batsman They also featured in Tests against the visiting Australians in 198687 as well as Down Under in 199192More recalled on Wednesday being part of the Indian ODI team in the 198687 series against Pakistan without playing any of the games which featured Chandrakant Pandit and Sadanand Viswanath behind the stumps in two and four games respectivelyPandit it can be recalled played as a batsman in the 1987 World Cup semifinal against England when Dilip Vengsarkar had to withdraw due to an ailmentMeanwhile Nayan Mongia who now aspires to be a national selector will remember how he was not taken to Australia in 19992000 after MSK Prasad did duty in the home Test series against New Zealand Chandu Borde the then chairman of selectors had to face a flurry of questions from the media over Mongiarsquos exclusion And if the media thought it was the end of the MongiaAustralia tour saga they were mistaken For Mongia was summoned to Australia when Prasad was injured In a stunning development Mongia was sent back without playing a game and Mumbairsquos Sameer Dighe was sent as Indiarsquos wicketkeeper for the triangular oneday series which began in January 2000India have had plenty of wicketkeeper options in their history One can also say they have had a plethora of curious cases and controversy surrounding the men who don the big glovesmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper