Gautam Gambhir Returns Home; Ravindra Jadeja the Late Replacement

After much blurred vision, finally the Indian cricket team has come to the realization that perhaps Gautam Gambhir would be best left to regain his 20:20 vision and have drafted in Ravindra Jadeja for the difficult job at the eleventh hour.

Gautam Gambhir

India’s ODI squad for England will see one more change – although it seemed almost imminent even a week ago – in that Ravindra Jadeja comes in as replacement for Gautam Gambhir who is still suffering from the after effects from that dropped catch off Kevin Pietersen in the fourth Test of the India England Test series at the Oval.

Gambhir fell on his head and is said to have suffered a mild concussion that temporarily impaired his vision. The blurred vision was causing him grief in that he was finding it hard to focus for long lengths of time. Although mercifully Gambhir’s condition is only temporarily, that the Indian cricket team was lingering so long on Gambhir’s fitness suggested that perhaps like the rest of the majority contingent in the Indian cricket team that included Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, Gambhir was better off on a flight back home.

The decision though has been taken virtually on the eve of the first India England ODI which means that Jadeja, who has been under pressure for sometime and has not featured in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, is suddenly being called up to acclimatize for the job without a tour match for comfort or orientation. Irrespective of whether the Indian cricket team decides to play him or not, which he perhaps will at some point in the ODI series, it would seem that they have rendered Jadeja, a struggling youngster, a great disservice in not allowing him to warm up for the job, although some would contend that those selected for the top level are expected to be top shape.

However, as Test cricket has shown, India are still some way of boasting of a bench strength and it would seem India are once again laying it on the line, as the recently crowned ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 champions. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, certainly has his work cut out for him because he is going to have to rally the men around the pride of the country, hoping to restore something on a tour that had gone badly sour. The method though could be continued to be argued.