Is Wim Koevermans taking a calculated gamble in his squad selection?

Yesterday, when the 20-player India squad for the international friendly against Tajikistan on August 14 was announced, the surprise was writ large as India coach Wim Koevermans had left out keeper Subrata Pal and Syed Rahim Nabi, who over the last few years had been Team India regulars.

There had been talk that players, who have not been in pre-season training, would not be picked for the away friendly in Khujand as the AIFF would not organise a camp before flying to Tajikistan.

And the scepticism of Wim Koeverman about the IMG-Reliance IPL-style football tournament is a known fact.

Actually people close to Team India say that Koevermans didn’t want to pick any IMG-R contracted player as they only started to train a few days ago in Mumbai, but selection problems in defence forced him to pick Gouramangi Singh and Nirmal Chettri.

But leaving out Subrata Pal and Syed Rahim Nabi on the pretext of lack of fitness is a very questionable decision by the India coach. And, as a matter of fact, most of Wim’s players have not been in club training for that long.

Let’s hope India break their run of bad results away from home on August 14 and, once the India preparatory camp for the SAFF Championship starts, the best are selected for the SAFF Championship in Kathmandu.