superselec-hintsandtips

While selecting the team, here are a few helpful pointers:

�   Tests vs ODIs: There may be certain players who play tests

and not one-dayers, and that particular month his team may

only be playing one-dayers.



� Number of matches: Even the most valuable players may not

be good picks if they don�t play a sufficient amount of cricket

in a month to score enough points.



� Consider the opposition: it is a fact that certain players

perform better against certain countries. For instance, Mike

Atherton may not be a good bet when McGrath is in the

opposition, while he might score heavily otherwise.



� Wickets and conditions: It is worth carefully examining the

venues where matches are being played. On crumbling turning

wickets in India, Harbhajan Singh is likely to run through the

opposition, which he may not do on seaming English wickets.

It is worth remembering that these factors are also considered

when the values are assigned, so Harbhajan is likely to be more

costly before a home series.


� Form: While the old clich� holds true that form is temporary

and class permanent, the �temporary� phase might in fact last

through an entire month. So even a potentially explosive point

scorer like Sourav Ganguly is best avoided when going through

a bad patch.

� Strike rates and economy: This is one game where rate of

scoring runs or economy rates in bowling play no part. In

which case, it is advisable to pick a solid batsman who may

score steadily (500 runs at a strike rate of 50) than another

flashy entertainer (200 at a rate of 150!) Similarly, a bowler

who is extremely expensive but takes wickets (say 10-0-65-4)

is more valuable in this game than one who restricts the

opposition but remains wicketless (10-4-19-0).