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Veteran Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar has said Wasim Jaffer should be considered as the opener in India's third test match against West Indies in Barbados. "It is important to try specialist openers in the Test and I think the young Bombay boy can be the choice," Vengsarkar told newspersons in reply to a question here.
He said Jaffer had been among the runs in domestic matches but did not get enough scope in the Indian team to prove his mettle. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said in Barbados that Jaffer was the front-runner for partnering Shiv Sunder Das in the opening slot.
About today's third Test, Vengsakrar said it would be interesting to watch the match on a wicket likely to favour fast bowlers and how the teams would cope with the wicket. "The match would be equally important for either team." Asked to comment on dropping star leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the last Test, Vengsarkar said though Kumble won matches for the country on several occasions, it was unfortunate that he could not perform well abroad despite being a successful bowler at home.
On the recent criticism about Ganguly's performance by a few former cricketers and some reports about change in captaincy, Vengsakrar said 'the team under Ganguly's captaincy have been doing well and he should not be disturbed for quite some time". He said he could not understand why the media had been raising questions over the change of captaincy when Ganguly was doing well.
Vengsarkar admitted that too much cricket had caused degradation in the standard of the game. He said one day cricket was a different ball game compared to Test matches and advocated for 2:1 ratio (two one dayer, one test) to provide a right balance to the game. Appreciating the Indian cricket board for its role in promoting cricket, Vengsakrar said the opening of zonal academies were a good step.
However he stressed the need for preparing good wickets to motivate fast bowlers. "The wickets need to be improved in the country," he observed. Expressing hope that the Indian team would perform well in the World Cup, he suggested a six week break before the World Cup to concentrate on the fitness of players as the team would turn up in a number of series before the mega event.
Vengsarkar, who had an interaction with the cadets of the Jamshedpur School of Cricket (JSC) here in the evening, said though there was plenty of talent, a lot more needed to be done in the area of fitness. Earlier, he gave tips on cricket techniques to the JSC cadets and said excellence in at least any two departments of the game would enhance their chance to get selected in a team.
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