"Why is the wall broken?" ...(written on 17 Oct, the day after Indian team was picked for the first two ODIs against the OZs)

The team has been selected for the upcoming series against Australia. Few changes were desperately needed, especially after the debacle of Champions Trophy where the ‘men-in-blue’ were knocked out in the opening round itself.
Munaf’s inclusion was inevitable after his successful stint in the Irani Trophy and Challenger Series, but retaining Ishant Sharma in the squad of 15, was perplexing. He looked completely out of colour in the biennial tournament in South Africa and his performance in the two domestic games — where Munaf shined — was also not encouraging to pick him against the inform OZs.
Sudeep Tyagi got the reward of his consistent performance in the last few seasons where he picked up wickets and also bowled with lots of heart. Selectors once again showed their faith on young Ravindra Jadeja, who impresses everyone with his all-round ability time and again.
Return of dynamic Virendra Sehwag together with talented Yuvraj Singh will provide much needed boost to the Dhoni-led side. But the ‘wall’ has been collapsed once again by the selectors. Rahul Dravid, who has become an epitome of consistency and hard work over the years, has shown the door.
To my surprise, this time the third 10000-run getter in Indian Cricket hasn’t performed badly in whatever chances he was given. In fact he was one such batsman who anchored the sinking ship when it was needed the most in the CT.
‘Thinking about the future’ has always given as reason for this Banglorean exit. But things don’t look that simple when one gets down to the bottom of the whole thing.
We all are impressed by the leadership skill of Mahendra Singh Dhoni but he also looks rigid and uncompromising when it comes to team’s selection. More youngsters have been given chances since Dhoni started leading the side. So what possibly could be the role of Indian skipper behind the exclusion of seasoned Dravid?
In my opinion, the man from Ranchi likes leading the young side than a side of too many aged blokes. It is always easy to direct young players. They don’t ask too many questions when they are told to do something. And they are more agile and fit when it comes to ground fielding.
But then another question that comes to my mind is why the great Sachin Tendulkar hasn’t been shown the door once. The answer lies in the adjective—great—I used before the master’s name. Sachin’s stature is too big for anyone to discard him. And all the players who are in the side have had ‘little master’ as their ideal all their lives. And, Sachin’s presence in the middle still makes a difference straight away. So it is impossible even for Dhoni to go against the selector’s wish to pick the highest run-getter in both forms of the game.
One can feel for Dravid, who has always given his 100 per cent whenever he donned the Indian colours. We all know the pitches in South Africa have more bounce and carry than pitches from the Subcontinent. It requires great skill and precision to score runs on the green top than hitting cross-bat strokes in the lifeless pitches that one gets generally in the four cricket playing nations in Asia.
Selectors included Dravid for the Champions Trophy as they knew none of the youngsters is capable of handling the chest-length deliveries that one gets in South Africa. But isn’t it unfair towards the ‘gentleman of the game’ to drop him when even he can score tons of runs in the dull pitches that one is going to get in the series against the Aussies? Don’t you think Dravid can score as many runs as any youngster? He surely deserved the place in the 15 member squad, especially all the devotion this 34-year old ‘young man’ shown throughout his career, even when he was given the job to keep behind the wickets. And he did that efficiently without asking a single question.