India's Test batting -- who's next?

[neeran]

Cut-n-pasting from my blog (Cricket Stalker) Friday, 16 January, 2009 A Golden Era for India's batting? India is currently enjoying a rare period of all-round strength in the batting order -- a Golden Era, perhaps? The openers, Sehwag and Gambhir are performing consistently, and the middle-order is dependable. The retirement of Saurav Ganguly has not been keenly felt, because there was a ready replacement (especially for home Tests) in Yuvraj Singh. Nor has the poor form of Rahul Dravid hurt India badly, with Sachin and Laxman making runs. Even the lower order starting with Dhoni has been contributing handsomely, with the likes of Harbhajan and Zaheer scoring important runs. The last time India had such a solid batting order was probably in the early 1980s, when the Gavaskar-Chauhan pair could be relied upon to do their job, and we had the likes of Vishwanath, Vengsarkar and Mohinder to follow in the middle order. Plus there were regular lower order contributions from Kapil and Kirmani, with gutsy support from Ghavri or Binny. It's a bit sad that ever since Gavaskar retired, India have hardly had a stable, reliable opening pair. In the 1990s, when the middle order was solid (Manjrekar, Azhar, Sachin) the openers were inadequate. And when once in a while the openers did well, the middle order let the team down. This was especially true in overseas tests, leading to the depressing away record in the 1990s. Which brings us back to the present... The current batting order is clearly solid, but India is in danger of losing three of those middle-order stars in quick succession. Dravid can be relied upon to demostrate his class, and his value to the team, in the upcoming away matches. But he clearly doesn't have too much cricket left in him. The modern-day game doesn't respect the Test specialist, and Dravid has reverted to being one, like his early days. Laxman is in a somewhat similar boat. He keeps demonstrating his value in almost every Test series he plays. But all too often, there are long gaps in between where he's inactive, out of sight, and therefore out of mind. Although he may have plenty of cricket left in him, I fear that the establishment (and that includes the captain and coach) won't be too kind to him. Sachin is in a different boat -- if he wants to, and if his body allows him to, he can still play all the versions of the game, at the highest levels. But I see signs that his hunger for the game is waning. He now plays mainly for the team, not for the enjoyment of the game. The team needs him to play various roles, with bat in hand and without, on the field and off. And so he does. It helps that India is winning consistently -- that keeps him going, because he didn't have this kind of experience for much of his career. If, in a year or two, he sees that the team no longer needs him as much, I suspect he'll quit. His mentoring job will be done. Observing him during the Ranji trophy final was interesting. He seemed to be somewhat disconnected from the Mumbai team, and certainly not as involved in the proceedings as we're used to seeing. I suspect he's starting to feel the generation gap now, and the motivation is waning. So I believe this Golden Era of Indian batting is going to end soon, and we're going to have to fill several holes in the middle order. Might as well mention that Sehwag is also no the wrong side of 30... There certainly are a few promising batsmen around, and I'll discuss those in a follow-up post soon.

[Lord]

great blog,bro:two_thumbs_up:

[neeran]

great blog' date='bro:two_thumbs_up:[/quote'] Thanks... I've just posted the follow-up article that I'd threatened!

[neeran]

India's Test batting -- who's next? Another cross-post from my blog... Sunday, 18 January, 2009 India's batting -- who's next? My previous post speculated that we have seen the Golden Era of Indian batting, with the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly. This era is clearly ending, so it's natural to wonder -- and worry -- what next? Or more properly, who's next? An inevitable side-effect of a successful team with several greats is that a whole generation (in cricketing terms) finds itself shut out of the team. In the 1960s and 1970s, India's spin quartet of Bedi, Chandra, Prasanna and Venkat was so well-established that their competitors on the domestic scene totally missed out on Test cricket. The likes of Paddy Shivalkar, Rajinder Goel and V.V. Kumar would have walked into most Test sides of their day, barring the Indian side! Dilip Doshi was unlucky as well, since the early part of his career overlapped with Bedi. By the time he made it to the Test side, he was on the wrong side of 30. A similar situation has prevailed with the Indian batting over the past decade. Quality batsmen like Amol Muzumdar, Hemang Badani, Badrinath, Yuvraj Singh and Mohd. Kaif had little or no opportunity to play Test cricket. Yuvraj and Kaif at least got plenty of opportunity to show their wares in the limited overs game, but as they themselves will aver, that's not "the real thing". Now that the spots are opening up in the Test batting order, Kaif, Badri and co. are the lost generation -- too old to be considered long-term prospects for the side, and too young to be forgotten totally. They'll probably soldier on in domestic cricket for a few years, but are hardly likely to have Test careers worth speaking of. So, who then can India look to for the future? Limited-overs cricket, and domestic cricket, have thrown up several names. How suitable, and ready, are they for Tests though? Consider Suresh Raina for example. Still only 22, he's certainly a candidate for the long term. He's proved himself to be a useful performer in the one-day format, but does he have the ability to build long innings? That remains to be tested. The same might be said of 21-year-old Rohit Sharma. Until this domestic season, he had done practically nothing of note in the first-class game. However, two things go in his favour: (1) His performances in this year's Ranji trophy, including a big double hundred and a 141 under pressure in the final, and (2) his natural talent! Just watching him play for a brief while makes it obvious. The fluidity of his movements at the crease, the timing of the ball, the smooth follow-through, and even his graceful fielding, all point to a natural-born cricketer. Another batsman with potential is Virat Kohli. As a limited-overs batsman, I think he's a shoo-in for the future India side. He has also started his first-class career well, with some good knocks for Delhi. His technique seems a bit loose currently, and he hasn't really been tested on bowler-friendly pitches. But of course he's very young, so there's hope that he will learn to adapt to the different forms of the game, at the highest level. Notice that all these candidates are naturally aggressive batsmen, brought up in the era of ODIs and T20s. Would any of them be able to play a sheet-anchor innings? Who can replace The Wall in the Indian lineup? If Dravid goes soon, India will need a short-term, stop-gap replacement for him. None of these kids can play that role against top-class pace bowling, in bowler-friendly conditions. I'd suggest falling back on a couple of tried-and-tested performers -- Aakash Chopra and Wasim Jaffer. Both of them are openers, and can move down to #3 without breaking a sweat. Both of them have Test experience and maturity on their side. They're not young, but they do have 3-4 years of cricket left in them. And if form deserts one of the openers, they'd be ready and willing to step in there too, at short notice. In the longer term though, Cheteshwar Pujara seems like a strong candidate for the job. He's only about 21 currently, and has just had a barnstorming season of domestic cricket. The biggest positive is that he's shown the ability to play the long innings, piling up huge double and triple hundreds. However his technique and temperament has not really been tested yet. His home ground of Rajkot is famous for its placid pitch. And the only time he came up against a strong pace attack (vs. Mumbai in the semis), he failed. Sadly, big Ranji performances aren't a reliable indicator of batting talent -- remember the likes of W.V.Raman and Raman Lamba scoring multiple triple-tons in Ranji/Duleep matches? So, some question marks remain, but Pujara's clearly a great prospect. Taking him on some India-A tours will help. Apart from these, there are a few other young batsmen clamouring for the selectors' attention -- the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan and Tanmay Srivastava. So overall, I'm not too worried by the upcoming end of the Golden Era... While these guys won't be as good as Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly right away, the future of Indian batting seems to be in good hands.

[zubinpepsi]

goodone neeran.... theres a blog section here in ICF.. u can copy paste ur blog stuff there.. so it wont get lost in this numerous threads in this section..

[EnterTheVoid]

golden era indeed

[Anakin]

Good read, but I disagree with SRT not enjoying the game anymore. I doubt if at this level you can sustain yourself for so long if you don't play for the sake of the game, not some other duty.

[Rajan]

I had great expectations from Wasim Jaffer since 2001 but his failure in australia had disappointed me. guess he shud make some technical improvements if india has to pick him again for tough tours. luckily india has a reasonably good domestic scene with so many teams and players like Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel,Rahane and the following fighting for space in the team. i would pick- Rohit sharma for all formats. Raina has to improve his ability handle short stuff, until then no tests. Badri still has a bit of time.he can get his chances for another couple of seasons, up to him to establish himself by grabbing the chances as many youngsters are breathing down his neck. M.Vijay is technically good and has a good temperament. he can step up.i hope Abhinav Mukund also improves his range of shots and gets the breaks. As u said Pujara can fill in for the long haul.lot of expectations. Manoj Tewary is another talented batsman.hope he can fulfill his potential. i like Abhishek Nayar and hope he does well in the longer form too. he has the potential to be an allrounder .

[cowboysfan]

i completely disagree with the stop-gap argument.as you said we are at an end of era as far as our batting is concerned.i would throw these young guys pujara and sharma into the fire and see how they perform.

[fineleg]

M.Vijay is technically good and has a good temperament. he can step up.i hope Abhinav Mukund also improves his range of shots and gets the breaks. .

Rajan, Can you elaborate if you have seen A. Mukund? What are his pros and cons (in terms of range of shots)?

[neeran]

I had great expectations from Wasim Jaffer since 2001 but his failure in australia had disappointed me. guess he shud make some technical improvements if india has to pick him again for tough tours.

It's a bit unfair to condemn him for one series failure, given that he has demonstrated the ability to score 100s and 200s at the top level. The best of batsmen are allowed the occasional poor run of form. Certainly Gambhir was in sublime form last season, and thoroughly deserved to replace Jaffer. But you ought not discard quality batsmen so easily. Jaffer has again demonstrated this season that he's streets ahead of most others in domestic cricket, and at age 30, might have a few years left.

luckily india has a reasonably good domestic scene with so many teams and players like Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel,Rahane and the following fighting for space in the team.

I frankly cannot imagine Uthappa and Parthiv becoming regulars in the Test side. Parthiv's only chance is if Dhoni has a major loss of form, or injury. Uthappa isn't good enough. Rahane too needs to be tested. He was clueless against the swing bowling of Praveen & Bhuvanesh Kumar in the Ranji finals -- although to be fair, so was Sehwag in England a few years ago!

M.Vijay is technically good and has a good temperament. he can step up.i hope Abhinav Mukund also improves his range of shots and gets the breaks.

Haven't seen much of Vijay (and anything of Mukund), so I'll take your word on that. I fear that these guys may not get the breaks though -- not likely to be on ODI teams and IPL teams which would bring them into the limelight (and selectors' sights).

Manoj Tewary is another talented batsman.hope he can fulfill his potential.

Yes, Tewary seems to be talented, but I don't like his attitude from what I've seen and read so far. He won't go far unless he learns to respect the game. There's a bit of a niggling worry on that score for Virat Kohli as well.

[neeran]

i completely disagree with the stop-gap argument.as you said we are at an end of era as far as our batting is concerned.i would throw these young guys pujara and sharma into the fire and see how they perform.

Well it's debatable... You certainly need to throw one or two of them into the fire. But can you afford to have 3-4 inexperienced, unproven players in the 11? Remember that the bowling department too has at least one rookie, and often two players of limited experience. Look at how Australia is struggling to replace its stars, even though it had excellent replacements available from domestic cricket, in the form of Mike Hussey and Simon Katich and Mitchell Johnson... In India's case, I think we'll get some leeway to experiment with the youngsters and blood them gradually because Sachin and Laxman and Sehwag will certainly hang around for a few years, as will Harbhajan and Zaheer on the bowling front.

[flamy]

Abhishhek Nayar looks daaaaaaaaamn good. He will be in the Indian team soon.

[Rajan]

Rajan, Can you elaborate if you have seen A. Mukund? What are his pros and cons (in terms of range of shots)?

No, Finey. i have only watched him on the TV in the quarter final, at bangalore. he looks compact. strong on square of the wicket, especially on off.has to become physically stronger.sure he can grow a few more inches, he is just 19.has very good temperament.let us hope he represents india in the next 2 seasons.

[fineleg]

No, Finey. i have only watched him on the TV in the quarter final, at bangalore. he looks compact. strong on square of the wicket, especially on off.has to become physically stronger.sure he can grow a few more inches, he is just 19.has very good temperament.let us hope he represents india in the next 2 seasons.

thx :thumbs_up:

[diegovegaz]

badrinath is due next he is 28 already, i guess, by the time he'll get to play for india he'll be 30 and then we may be witnessing "drop badrinath" threads

[bharat297]

I think Rohit Sharma looks the goods ... Ive been probably his most vocal supporter on this forum and I truly believe he is the next batting star for India. Twin tons in a Ranji Final (after a strong season) show he is definitely in form and should be taken to New Zealand at least for the ODIs and hopefully put in the squad (not necessarily the team yet) for the Test side.

[Chorazin Reto]

I think the openers are solid with Sehwag(hes got a few years in him yet) and Gambhir, moving on from there someone will need to lock into the very important number 3 slot, is Rohit good enough to lock in at 3? Dravid, Laxman, and Tendulkar will be gone, id imagine Sehwag will play on a little longer hes only 30 after all. Dhoni will obviously be keeper and come in down the order, does India bother with a genuine Test all rounder or just put in another specialist batsmen? Yuvraj Singh seems to be hit and miss, some days he seems the epitome of an elegant strokeplay batsmen and very much switched on and other days it seems his mind is elsewhere with horrible shot selection, the contrast is so great im often thinking, is this the same batsman? G.Gambhir V.Sehwag R.Sharma ? ? ? ~ (maybe a batting allrounder) MS.Dhoni H.Singh Z.Khan A.Mishra I.Sharma

[Chandan]

badrinath is due next he is 28 already, i guess, by the time he'll get to play for india he'll be 30 and then we may be witnessing "drop badrinath" threads

Before "drop Badrinath" thread, I'll start "don't pick Badrinath" thread because he is absolutely rubbish against quality bowling. Whoever has seen him batting against Tait, Bollinger and co will never recommend him to be chosen for Indian test team.

[Chandan]

I think the openers are solid with Sehwag(hes got a few years in him yet) and Gambhir, moving on from there someone will need to lock into the very important number 3 slot, is Rohit good enough to lock in at 3? Dravid, Laxman, and Tendulkar will be gone, id imagine Sehwag will play on a little longer hes only 30 after all. Dhoni will obviously be keeper and come in down the order, does India bother with a genuine Test all rounder or just put in another specialist batsmen? Yuvraj Singh seems to be hit and miss, some days he seems the epitome of an elegant strokeplay batsmen and very much switched on and other days it seems his mind is elsewhere with horrible shot selection, the contrast is so great im often thinking, is this the same batsman? G.Gambhir V.Sehwag R.Sharma ? ? ? ~ (maybe a batting allrounder) MS.Dhoni H.Singh Z.Khan A.Mishra I.Sharma

G.Gambhir V.Sehwag M Vijay Rohit Sharma Manoj Tiwary/anyone new Yuvraj Singh MS.Dhoni H.Singh Z.Khan A.Mishra I.Sharma *************************** I suppose this line would do. I'm not sure about Pujara at the moment. Let him perform in a couple of A tours and if he proves his class then he can compete with Tiwari or Vijay, as his talent would take him.