Time India's Test batting line-up gets a shakedown

The top order has consistently failed and it is hard to imagine that the Indian cricket scene, brimming with talent, can’t be bothered with finding replacements

There’s a lot to admire in this Indian Test team — many of the players have been part of the journey that has seen the team genuinely start to challenge away from home — but there comes a point in the life of every outfit when a massive reset is in order.

At some point, the India selectors (yes, they exist) have got to look at the bigger picture and take a few tough and risky calls (ICC Twitter)

The cricket has been entertaining and enlightening at the same but the meek surrender in the World Test Championship should be the final nail in the coffin; a sign that India needs to build a new house and the pillars that helped build the old one now need to give way to newer ones.

At some point, the India selectors (yes, they exist) have got to look at the bigger picture and take a few tough and risky calls; they need to back their hunches; they need to go out on a limb.

The final day of the 2023 World Test Championship final offered an unsettling reminder of how this team is stagnating. This is the same set of batters that played in the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand. They had to bat out time on Day 6 but India folded (from 64/2 overnight to 170 all out) and then New Zealand took over to win the match. Here again, in London, something similar happened. Are Sharma and Co still in the same spot? Are they even worse?

Now, this isn’t about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy or Virat Kohli’s drive or Cheteshwar Pujara’s determination or Ajinkya Rahane’s class. Rather this is about pre-empting the march of time and figuring out whether these seniors will genuinely be our best bets in two years when the WTC final will be held at the Lord’s.

This isn’t an age argument either. The top order has consistently failed and it is hard to imagine that the Indian cricket scene, brimming with talent, can’t be bothered with finding replacements. A Yashasvi Jaiswal is knocking on the door, Ruturaj Gaikwad has done the rounds too, Abhimanyu Easwaran is in the mix, as is Devdutt Padikkal. And this is just the tip of the talent mountain.

But the most important step in finding these replacements will be to give them experience; and how do they get that unless the selectors look beyond the seniors. The decision that the team management had taken with former wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, when they told him that he wouldn’t be considered for the team anymore, was the right one.

But Saha was never as big a star as the senior batters mentioned above. It was relatively easier to have that conversation with him also because Rishabh Pant had found his feet at the international level.

Still, the method was right. And Dravid needs to have a similar conversation with the senior group, and if he can’t, then the selectors need to step in. This is where vision, or the lack of it, comes into the picture, especially for Test cricket — which is not quite as attractive as the white-ball formats.

Almost everyone in the BCCI and the selection committee say Sharma and Dravid have a vice-like grip on the selection process. They get what they want but then, it is perhaps right to say that they aren’t delivering the trophies that India wants.

What has the two-year WTC cycle taught India? Are they any wiser about the way forward? Have they identified their inadequacies?

For now, the batting is clearly not able to do the job. India have needed the lower order to come to their rescue multiple times and the lack of consistency is a sign that has been ignored by the selectors.

The scattergun approach should remain banished but if India isn’t introducing enough new talent into the system, they are asking to crash and burn. There is no shame in being dropped (if you aren’t good enough, you should be dropped) but lately, the conversation seems to have moved to the milder ‘rested’.

Changing the team to improve it is not wrong. It is simply sending a message to everyone involved: you need to be at a certain level, or we will look elsewhere. There is no malice in this; it is simply individuals doing their job.

The Indian squad for the WTC final had an average age of 31.9. And several of the key members are in their mid-thirties. The start of the new WTC cycle will represent the perfect opportunity to transition into a new age.

It is a question of balance too. They cannot all be shunted out at the same time, but the process needs to begin. Dravid, if anything, should know this well.

While Ravi Shastri and Kohli were in charge of the senior team, he would make sure there was enough young talent in the pipeline. But now either we need to believe that there are no replacements or that someone is blocking their path. Whether we like it or not, something’s got to give.