The Pathans and the Capthans !

Yusuf Pathan's amazing innings of 100 from 37 balls and the way he played today prove my belief that here is India's answer to the prayers for an 'All-rounder' in the shorter format of the game. Every time Shane Warne has patted him on the back, Yusuf has flourished.

I only hope, Dhoni and Indian Cricket Bosses are watching. Dhoni has time and again under-utilized Yusuf. He looks a different player when he plays under Warne. Why? Shane trusts and backs him to the hilt. Dhoni has never shown this kind of trust in some players. The reasons are best known to him, but I believe the team should comprise of what is best for the team and not what the Captain thinks is best.

India have lost out on a lot of potential All-rounders. A player with 288 wickets from 191 games at just over 27 runs per wicket, fastest ODI fifty by an Indian and perhaps the best deep fielding credentials from his generation has been consigned to the dust-bin since 2007.

So much so, after a Heroic performance with both bat and ball in the last Ranji Trophy season; Ajit Agarkar finds himself warming the benches during the IPL match and people like Laxmi Rattan Shukla are playing! What will happen to a player when his Captain is prejudiced? More Agarkars and Pathans are wasted and more Shuklas and Sharmas will continue to rule the roost.

Irfan Pathan has always done well in the shorter versions of the game. Somehow our Selectors can give a million chances to Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma, but are not ready to trust Irfan. I don't question the talent of Ishant in test match Cricket. But with his lesser batting abilities and much lesser fielding credentials; he is not much of an asset in the shorter versions.

Agarkar is almost 32 and perhaps past prime. But looking at nearly as old Ashish Nehra and Zaheer play, my heart bleeds for Ajit. Every time he bowls one bad over, he gets the sack. Every time he does well; somehow very strangely, the media prefers to look elsewhere!

When he pulled off a brilliant win against Karnataka in Ranji trophy final, entire media was concerned about his behavior rather than his performance. And this was about a player who has seldom been charged of bad behavior in any form of Cricket before.

Anyway, with his age and Dhoni's preference for his trusted gang, Ajit has practically no chance of playing for India again. But he certainly deserves better deal from Ganguly. That Ganguly who won his most famous victory at Adelaide thanks to Ajit. Someone should remind Saurav about this.

But I am more concerned about Pathan brothers now. Yusuf is 28 and Irfan is 26. Both have their prime ahead. Some kind of sense should prevail and we should go for the horses for the courses policy. Both Pathan brothers will turn out to be huge assets in T-20 and ODIs if backed properly and used well. If we don't use them now, the loss will be ours!