Yo-Yo test shouldn’t be sole selection criterion : Sachin Tendulkar
Mumbai : Be it MS Dhoni’s longevity or Mohammed Shami’s return to the India squad for the ongoing England tour, the Yo-Yo Test has played a key role in determining the careers of a lot of players. Sachin Tendulkar however feels that shouldn’t be the mandatory selection criterion.
Shami was dropped from the India squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan. He hasn’t played an international game since the Johannesburg Test in January but was named in the 18-man squad for the upcoming Test series against England on Wednesday. Similarly, while Dhoni’s current form has come under the scanner, his place in the team doesn’t seem to be under any threat owing to his experience and fitness.
Tendulkar feels that while a certain standard was required, selection should also take into account other factors. “I feel certain fielding standards are critical. Now I haven’t done the Yo-Yo Test. We had the beep test, which is more or less similar,” said Tendulkar. “But that shouldn’t be the only criterion. It should be a mixture of fitness and also looking at the ability of a player. I think Yo-Yo test is important but also looking at the ability of the player and how fit or unfit the player is.”
The Yo-Yo test has already cost Ambati Rayudu and Sanju Samson their spots in the national squad and the ‘A’ side. Both players had a terrific run in the Indian Premier League, with Rayudu slamming three half-centuries and a century while guiding Chennai Super Kings to their third IPL title.
India have had mixed fortunes in the England tour so far, winning the T20I series 2-1 but losing the ODI rubber 2-1. And although the wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal caused the hosts few problems, India seemed more undone by Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali’s spin. Tendulkar said that if conditions are similar and similar surfaces are offered in the Test series too, it would only hurt the Indian batsmen.
“If it continues to be like this — and the kind of surfaces we have seen even in the ODIs — someone like Kuldeep, Chahal and their leg-spinner (Adil Rashid) were able to get some help off the surface. So, if the surfaces are going to be like that in a five-day game, then our spinners are surely in the game. They (England) will hurt Indian batters. But if they are not going to give spinner-friendly surfaces, then it’s going to be a competition between our batting and their batting. We have good depth in our batting. Thus, on a decent surface, it will be difficult to get our batting out.”
While Tendulkar hailed from an era of stability where the Fab Four nearly played every game, it’s in stark contrast to the manner in which the playing eleven is changed every Test. The legend said that unless the situation demands, it’s better not to tinker with the side.
“The changes take place depending on the surface, depending on the form of that particular individual, depending on how long the series is because sometimes in a three-Test series you have to make decisions very quickly,” he said. “So, I would say one has to be patient and balanced but that doesn’t mean you are not supposed to make any changes. One should make changes if the situation demands those changes but otherwise I feel it’s always nice to have that stability and letting the players know that there aren’t going to be too many unnecessary changes.”
courtesy : hindustantimes.com
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Faced criticism from my own community for advocating creamy layer principle: Ex-CJI Gavai
Mumbai (PTI): Former Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Saturday said he faced criticism from his own community for stating in a judgement that the creamy layer principle should be applied to reservation for the Scheduled Castes.
In Dr B R Ambedkar's view, affirmative action was like providing a bicycle to someone who is lagging behind, he said, asking whether Ambedkar thought that such a person should never give up the bicycle. Ambedkar did not think so, he claimed.
Gavai, who retired as CJI recently, was delivering a lecture on "Role of Affirmative Action in Promoting Equal Opportunity" at Mumbai University.
Paying tributes to Ambedkar on his death anniversary, Gavai said the iconic leader was the architect of not only the Indian Constitution but also of the affirmative action enshrined in it.
"Babasaheb, in so far affirmative action is concerned, was of view that it is like providing a cycle to those who are lagging behind....suppose somebody is at tenth km and somebody at zero, he (the latter) should be provided a cycle, so that he reaches faster till the tenth km. From there, he joins the person who is already there and walks along with him. Did he (Ambedkar) think that the person should not leave the cycle and carry forward and thereby ask the people who are at zero km to continue to be there?" the former CJI asked.
"In my view, that was not the vision of social and economic justice as contemplated by Babasaheb Ambedkar. He wanted to bring social and economic justice in the real sense and not in formal sense," he added.
The Indra Sawhney and Others Vs Union of India case enunciated the creamy layer principle, and in another case, he himself held that creamy layer should also be made applicable to the Scheduled Castes, said Gavai.
The principle demands that those who are sufficiently advanced economically and socially should not get the benefit of affirmative action even though they are members of the backward community for which it is meant.
He was "widely criticized" by the people of his own community for this judgement, Gavai said, adding that he was accused of taking benefit of reservation himself to become a Supreme Court judge and then advocating the exclusion of those who fell in the creamy layer.
But these people did not even know that there is no reservation for the constitutional office of High Court or Supreme Court judge, Gavai said.
Can applying the same yardstick to the son of a chief justice of India or chief secretary and the son of a labourer who has studied in a gram panchayat school satisfy the test of equality as enshrined in the Constitution, he asked.
Gavai, however, emphasized that in the last 75 years "no doubt affirmative action has played a positive role".
"I have traveled across the country, traveled across the world, I have seen many people belonging to the Scheduled Caste becoming chief secretary or director general of police or ambassadors and high commissioners," he said.
Maharashtra is a land of social reformers, and the "region can truly be described as the birthplace of the idea of modern India", Gavai said.
"We are all aware about Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule's pioneering work in eradication of inequalities in the society," he said.
When women were among most oppressed in society, it was the Phule couple who opened the door of education for them, he noted.
