The baffling case of Stuart Binny's selection

The 'allrounder' got a ticket on the World Cup bus yesterday. Abhishek Jha points out why this selection is biased in more than one way

The names of the 15 men who will defend the ICC World Cup in a month’s time was announced yesterday. This process is entrusted to five wise men who are known as National Selectors. But in a country where cricket is religion and every Tom, Dick and Harry sitting at a tea stall is an expert, debates on selection are a given. However strangely, everyone was in sync about 14 of the 15 players picked this time. One name became the unanimous bone of contention. Enter Stuart Binny.

Before we go to meritocracy, the first question which is baffling everyone is conflict of interest.

Stuart Binny is the son of Roger Binny who is best known for his performance in the 1983 World Cup. He was the highest wicket taker in that tournament. The former medium pacer is now one of the five wise men who decide who gets a plane ticket to Australia and who doesn’t.

It is well known that in BCCI’s dictionary, conflict of interest doesn’t find a mention. Otherwise the whole N Srinivasan and IPL saga would be far less complicated. But that is for another time. In case of Binny selecting Binny, a father has selected a debatable player in a World Cup squad. There should be an uproar even if MS Dhoni’s father was on the selection panel, leave aside this case. How are such things allowed is beyond comprehension. That the BCCI now claims that Roger Binny did not participate in the discussion when his son’s name was being considered does not do much to assure fans of the impartiality of the process.

Now let’s get down to meritocracy. 

To make the argument simple, let us assume that the other 14 are non-controversial picks, which in a broad stroke they are.

So who are the contenders for the 15^th spot? Reports says MS Dhoni, who attended  the selection meet via a teleconference, wanted a specialist batsman or a bowler. His request was shot down. The squad has Shikar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma as openers. Dhawan is out of form and Ajinkya Rahane though has opened in IPL, will be better off in the middle order. Also opening the innings is a specialist’s job. Murali Vijay has been in very good form in the ongoing tour of Australia. One has to admit that the opener from Tamil Nadu has got a raw deal.

The other cricketers who  have the right to grumble are Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa.

Support for Yuvraj Singh is natural. The flamboyant southpaw was one of the key performers in the last World Cup. He is a proven match winner with the bat and can also roll his arm over. His form in the domestic season this time has been mixed. He started poorly but has hit back to back three centuries in his last three outings.

Latest performances of Yuvraj Singh. Stats courtesy ESPN Cricinfo 

Robin Uthappa also has a strong case. The attacking batsman has been consistently performing in first class cricket, is used to opening the innings and can double up as a decent wicketkeeper. It wasn’t surprising that he too garnered a lot of support on social networking sites yesterday.

Latest performances of Robin Uthappa. Stats courtesy ESPN Cricinfo 

Compare this to Binny junior. He is what Geoffrey Boycott would call an ‘up and down bowler’ whose pace wouldn’t trouble his grandmother. Binny Senior was himself a similar bowler. The difference was that he did well in a World Cup that was held in England where the ball seams, making medium pacers effective. At the fag end of the Australian summer, a medium pacer coming onto bowl will be a delight for the batsman. The stocky ‘all-rounder’ is supposed to be a hard hitter of the cricket ball but no such exploit comes to mind. Moreover his last outings are not impressive at all.

Latest performances of Stuart Binny . Stats courtesy ESPN Cricinfo

Anyway, the selection has been made and history will reflect that Stuart Binny was a part of the Indian team which played the ICC World Cup 2015. As a fan of the game and an ardent Indian supporter, all one can hope for is that Binny Junior proves his detractors wrong and has a fabulous tournament and helps India win the coveted trophy. But even if that happens, logically as of today, dear BCCI, you’ve got it wrong. Again.