Zimbabwe vs India 2013: The Rasool "sub" plot!

Pervaiz Rasool Become First Kashmiri Cricketer To Get Indian Cap

That’s the dilemma. A team can have fifteen in the squad but can only field eleven of them. Being on the bench is tough, extremely tough. Perhaps it’s mentally more challenging and emotionally exhausting to play the part of a “Sub”. Being a reserve player takes equally the same amount of grit, determination, guts and discipline than that of a regular starter.

However, there are a couple of things more that act on the psyche of a “sub” – disappointment and humiliation. You make the team. You sweat it out in the practice sessions; hone your skills by taking those extra throw-downs, increase your stamina by running that bit extra on the treadmill and then when the team sheet is drawn, you draw a blank.

Pervaiz Rasool Become First Kashmiri Cricketer To Get Indian Cap

When the team jogs on to the park, you put on your glares, wear the “sub-vest” on your jersey, find a cozy corner in the bench and put your feet up to watch the action. And then when your captain says -“We had a set bowling combination and we didn’t want to make any changes to that. It was unfortunate he didn’t get a game, but it just didn’t go according to our plans.” - It hurts!

How do you handle a situation that screams out loud - you’re talented but do not deserve to play in the first eleven? Being a part of the team involves every player to be ready to accept the role that’s been allotted but what do you do, when that so-called “role” that you’re supposed to play is “not playing” at all?

Go figure that one out!

Being a part of a competitive team brings along a few some unpleasant realities. While performances might get a rookie into the squad, it doesn’t always guarantee playing time. Playing time is a privileged affair but being on the bench, actually, tests the commitment of an athlete to the team and to the sport itself. That’s sports for you. Fair or unfair, right or wrong, things might not always go your way.

In fact, most times they won’t!

Rasool has had a tough life. It’s not easy to steal the attention of the national selectors hailing from a sensitive state. It’s not easy to perform when you’re subjected to be checked by sniffer dogs and labeled a terrorist when all that you want is to play cricket.

But India caps are not handed out based on sentimental reasons. Yes, we hail from a country where selections are dependent on zonal biases and not-so-worthy players have often donned that blue blazer but Rasool wouldn’t want to be a part of that clan. He would rather wait than be branded as one of those who represented India, thanks to the quota system.

Rasool must have felt like a fifth wheel that made no significant contribution to the team’s cause. He might have felt like an unimportant and unnecessary addition to the team but the experience on the bench has done more good to him than he can realise now.

Sitting on the bench, he must have realized the difference between selected and actually playing for the national team. Just being in that Indian dressing room with the likes of Kohli and Fletcher should do him a world of good.

The continuous work-outs and drills of Trevor Penny and the tips from Joe Dawes must have sharpened his skills and it also must have helped him recognize that there are people with superior abilities and that must have helped him to figure out the areas he needs to work on.

The people back home may be disappointed but as he travels to South Africa as a part of India A, Pervez Rasool might just be that bit more determined to prove his worth against much tougher foes.

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