Pakistan in West Indies: Hiding Sarwan Could Backfire

Port-Of-Spain - The West Indies selectors have already settled on one new player for the first Test against Pakistan, starting at Bourda, Friday week.

By excluding 19-year-old Guyanese Ramnaresh Sarwan from the Under-23 team to oppose the Pakistanis in the three-day match preceding the Test, they have prematurely and unnecessarily, if perhaps unwittingly, declared their intentions.

The only interpretation can be that he is being saved for his Test debut before his home crowd.

Why they should feel it necessary to keep Sarwan under wraps until the big day is not clear.

The West Indies' youngest first-class cricketer when he first appeared for Guyana aged 15, the stylish right-hander strengthened his claims for promotion with a century in each innings for the President's XI against Zimbabwe at Guaracara Park in early March, his last major match.

His only other meaningful cricket since then has been two One-Day matches for West Indies Select XI against the Pakistanis in Antigua on April 8 and 9.

A knock in the Under-23 match would surely have been more beneficial than sitting in the Everest Club pavilion watching.

Sarwan's selection has been influenced as much by his right-handedness as his obvious talent.

Six of the first seven in the order in the two Tests against Zimbabwe - Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Jimmy Adams - were left-handers.

With Pakistan's more powerful and varied attack including Wasim Akram's left-arm swing, Mushtaq Ahmed's leg-spin and Saqlain Mushtaq's off-spin, the selectors are understandably keen to bring in a right-hander or two.

Ricardo Powell must be one and, on the basis of his omission from the Under-23 match, Sarwan would be the other.

If Chanderpaul, currently on a three-week break recovering from 'acute fatigue', is unable to return right away, that would leave a vacancy for Powell.

Sarwan could then be accommodated only by leaving out one of the other left-handers: Griffith, Hinds or Gayle.

Whether Sarwan gets his Test debut or not, his exclusion from the Under-23s makes little sense. At his age, the more cricket he can get, the better.