England once again exposed the Indian batsmen’s frailties against left arm spin.
The Indian test team needs to look at life after Sachin. All teams go through a rebuilding stage. Great teams plan ahead and aren’t afraid to take tough decisions. With Tendulkar not scoring runs, it is time to promote Virat Kohli at No.4 . He is the future of Indian cricket. Cheteshwar Pujara was given a chance and look at how the youngster made the most of it. With Rahul Dravid gone, Pujara got the space to make a mark and showed that he belongs and deserves to bat at No3.
Now I don’t mean that every time a senior player doesn’t perform, then there has to be a sword of Damocles hanging over his head. But at the same time, one has to understand the difference between the need to allow players space and also not allowing places in the side to be taken for granted!
Opportunities need to be given to young players to allow them to take responsibility and grow in stature and confidence. This is a long home season for India. Apart from the ODI & T20’s against England and Pakistan, India will play host to Australia for 4 Tests early in Feb-March next year. Looking ahead, it’s a great chance to give a sustained run to the younger players in the test arena in home conditions.
For the moment the combine of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir needs to be persisted with at the top! Sehwag will always be the game changer in any match. And atleast for now, with the hand eye co-ordination working well, he should remain a force to reckon with in the international arena for a few more years.
Gambhir is too hardworking a cricketer to remain without runs for long. He has the tendency to dab outside the off stump far too often for a regular opener, but he looks to make up on that deficiency with diligence. A rare quality that he possesses is that despite being an opener, he uses his feet well against the spinners. And his being a left-hander, will help India counter the spin option of Panesar as well (provided he bats long enough at the start of the innings).
With selectors looking at Ajinkya Rahane as a top order bat instead of an opener, it is a classic case of trying to fit a player into the squad rather than playing an individual at his regular position. Rahane and Abhinav Mukund need to be groomed as the second set of openers for the long run, once India start looking past Gambhir and Sehwag.
What India also needs at the moment is a solid left hander at No. 5. It is a great opportunity for Ravindra Jadeja to rise to the occasion and claim this spot, now that he has made his debut in Tests. Batting higher entails more responsibility, and having scored three triple hundreds in domestic cricket, Jadeja has shown his hunger for runs and ability to stay at the crease over long periods. Will he be able to convert this into big scores at the highest level, will be a question that gets answered in the next few months!
The Indian captain MS Dhoni’s batting in Tests is a big concern for India. Almost as big as Tendulkar not scoring runs in his last 10 innings! What India needs is Dhoni to bat at No.6 and contribute. One has to remember a certain Dinesh Kartik in his initial days not very long ago, as a keeper bat for India in Tests. His temperament and technique made you believe that he belonged at the test level.
With Ashwin scoring runs regularly, then India might have to look at him as the number 7 bat. He can bat with a fair degree of competency and if the top order contributes, then India could field 3 spinners in the playing 11 along with 2 quicks, in the form of Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma.
Maybe a long hard re-look is required by India. Because this English side has shown that it will not roll over and play dead at the mere mention of rank turners from Day One. Providing such pitches isn’t the panacea for all troubles, and one can get repaid in the same coin, as India found out much to their discomfort in the Mumbai and Kolkotta tests.