After disappointment in Vijay Hazare Trophy, only the best must represent Chandigarh

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 20

The disappointing performance of Chandigarh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy has bolstered the hopes of several aggrieved cricketers, who had been complaining of biased selection when the team was picked.

Chandigarh, competing in the Plate Division of the tournament, failed to qualify for the main tournament’s quarterfinals after finishing second in the league phase. Having produced pedigreed players and possessing excellent infrastructure, Chandigarh would have expected to top the Plate Division’s league phase, ahead of teams such as Puducherry, Uttarakhand and Assam.

However, Chandigarh suffered a big loss to Puducherry (eight wickets) and a more shocking defeat to Nagaland to be knocked out of the reckoning for the quarterfinals. With six wins and two defeats in nine matches, Chandigarh finished tied second on the table with 26 points, well behind Puducherry, who finished unbeaten and on 32 points.

The individual performances of the players are disappointing, too — no batsman averaged over 40, and there were only four scores of over 50. Credit to Uday Kaul and Manan Vohra for their 100s, and Ankit Kaushik and Arjun Azad for their 50s, but there was little else to write home about. Barinder Sran, who has donned the India shirt, was the biggest disappointment, ending up with six wickets in five matches.

Looking ahead

The road ahead gets more difficult — only one team from the Ranji Trophy Plate Division will make it to the main Ranji Trophy tournament.

It’s only natural that out of hundreds of players available for selection, only a select few would make the squad. The players who cannot be accommodated are left complaining.

However, considering the disappointing performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the UT Cricket Association must heed the complaints and ensure a rigorous degree of fairness in trials and selection for the rest of the season. Long-form cricket requires very different talents — Chandigarh must ensure that only the best available talent would represent it.

When UTCA was recognised by BCCI, it was hoped that since it was beginning with a blank slate, it would set an example for exemplary governance. That hope was belied due to the nepotism in its set-up. We can only hope that this permissibility of nepotism or favouritism in UTCA would not reach the playing field.

Chandigarh has excellent cricketing infrastructure and tradition of school and college cricket. 

The city has produced several top cricketers who have represented Punjab or Haryana, and have gone on to play for the country. In its first season in the BCCI, Chandigarh must try to put its best foot forward.