India's cricket selectors have found the perfect mantra for success

It’s back to the sunshine for Team India — after dull and bleak England, where the weather was punctured by their incredible Champions Trophy win. The country will take that for a deal, and so will the team — without a doubt.

And after grabbing the big trophy, it’s now time to win the tri-series in West Indies against the hosts and Sri Lanka. India are on a high, and most people will agree that the selection committee’s decision to name an unchanged squad (albeit the forced inclusion of Shami Ahmed for an injured Irfan Pathan) was correct. The selectors, who usually are on the wrong end of the firing, have got their game absolutely right this time.

And cricket expert Ayaz Memon agrees: “There’s no non-performing asset in the team. Also, they’ve honoured domestic performances rather than go for reputation. They’ve also put a premium on fielding. So they’re clearly looking at World Cup 2015 — you’ve got a young team who will grow over the years and become formidable hopefully, you’ve got people who are in form now and then there are people who are very good fielders.”

But this is all good for the limited overs format. What about Tests?

“You have a lot of players in the ODI team who will play Test cricket for you — Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Maybe the elements missing are a fast bowler and a backup opener. Murali Vijay is there and Rohit Sharma could also come in. The onus is on the senior guys like Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and to an extent even Sachin Tendulkar. The communication has gone to the seniors that you’re not in if you don’t perform.”

Ayaz also revealed that if he was selector, he would pick Vijay over Rohit — especially given the two hundreds he got against Australia.

We also asked Ayaz whether MS Dhoni, the captain who is on top of the world right now, would consider giving up one format of the game in the run-up to the WC: “I’m not a mind reader, but I’m sure the whole administration and the players will want him to stay.”

There’s no doubt that the selectors have got their decisions right, and Ayaz says that a lot of credit must go to Sandip Patil, despite the fact that he has had things going his way since taking over as chairman of the committee: “What went well for him was Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retiring. Then Sachin took the decision to quit ODI cricket. But Sandip is a forthright guy and is very good with young players and even the co-selectors,” he quipped.

Watch the video above for the full conversation between Ayaz Memon and Ashish Magotra