Lost cap for Parvez Rasool, lost chance for Indian team

Not giving Parvez Rasool a single game in the five-match series in Zimbabwe appears to defy both cricketing and symbolic logic. Purely on cricketing grounds, this series was a golden opportunity for India to test its bench strength in conditions quite different from home against a weak opposition. The team management seems to have realized this and played 14 of the 15-member squad. So why make an exception of Rasool? Going into the final match, India was leading 4-0. Even 5-0 was never in doubt. Playing Rasool would have allowed India to try out one more option in the build-up to the 2015 World Cup. It would also have given a player from Jammu & Kashmir an unprecedented India cap, the symbolic value of which could have been huge. Sadly, the men on the spot didn't seem to understand this and nobody higher up nudged them either. While there are no freebies in the Indian cricket team, as the likes of Ajinkya Rahane - who was a member of the squad for 16 Tests before he made his debut - will attest, and newcomers are often made to play in the nets as part of being "assimilated" into the national team, the opportunity here was different - building the best ODI team for the 2015 World Cup. The first cricketer from J&K team to be selected for the national cricket team, Rasool is also a beacon of hope for players from a region which felt marginalized from Indian cricket's mainstream. By playing Rasool, who is by all accounts competent enough to hold his own against Zimbabwe, the Indian team could have brought joy to Kashmir and given the player confidence to get into the big league. The disappointment in the Valley was reflected in CM Omar Abdullah's tweet: "Did you really have to take him all the way to Zimbabwe to demoralise him? Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just do it at home?" This came a day after Abdullah's tweet on the eve of the fifth ODI: "Come on BCCI give the young man (Rasool) a chance to prove himself. Really disappointed that Parvez Rasool hasn't been given a game in Zimbabwe." The disappointment wasn't confined to J&K politicians. Union minister of state for human resource development Shashi Tharoor also tweeted, "Greatly disappointed that Parvez Rasool not playing today. Bizarre selection. Could easily have rested Jadeja and Raina for Rasool and Rahane." The Indian cricket board, caught up in the bitter fallout of the IPL spot-fixing scandal, rushed as usual to control the damage, with BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla reiterating that selecting the final XI was the team management's call. "When someone gets selected in Team India, it is a very big achievement. Rasool has been selected because of his hard work. It is for the team management, the captain and the coach they decide as to who will play depending on the wicket condition, team's combination and composition," said Shukla. "So, we should leave to them. There is no need to be worried. He (Rasool) will definitely get the chance in future matches." That begs the question, is the team management - including stand-in skipper Virat Kohli - even mature enough to comprehend the mass resentment their decision may have caused?   TOI