Letter of the Day

Pankaj Dharmani, the wicket-keeper batsman captain of the current Punjab outfit. Is he not fit to play for Indian Cricket?

I was going over his stats, that too, because I've seen him among the runs for years. And what mammoth average he has: 55+ in the longer version and 40+ in the ODI's version. But isn't he one of the guys we can be looking out for a good keeper batsman.

Dasgupta is batting very well but remember that its very difficult for a WK to be the opener in the longer version of the game. He will sooner or later be pushed into the middle order and his keeping is pretty mediocre.

Dharmani has been in this field for a long time and he may be a better keeper than Dasgupta. He can at least play in the ODI in the middle order and he's a very good striker of the cricket ball (especially towards the end of the innings) but Dasgupta is not a very attacking batsman and can't score quickly.

Dasgupta is young and he needs some experience in the art of keeping and so he along with Ajay Ratra can be groomed with Dharmani performing the duties behind the stumps.

The one thing that really irks me is why haven't the selectors ever thought of Dharmani? (He has played in only one ODI against SA). Is it because there is no selector from Punjab or is the North India quota over?

Siddartha Reddy

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