One of the most
fascinating and crucial series happening this year will also likely be one of
the most overlooked. Currently, India A is 1-0 up over the West Indies A side,
in a battle that could go a long way to shaping the test sides of both nations
for many years. As you may have noticed, neither the West Indies, nor India,
have particularly strong test sides at present. There are spots up for grabs,
particularly if you are a hungry young batsman. There will be three unofficial
tests played over the A series, and so far a few batsmen have put their noses
in front.
The case of India’s
test team is particularly pressing. Their next test series may be against lowly
New Zealand in August, however, there is at least one spot that needs to be
filled immediately. Actually, to call it a spot doesn’t quite do it justice.
Somebody is going to have to step into the giant shoes of Rahul Dravid. Somehow,
after being the only batsman to do anything of note in the dismal tour to
England, he decided that it was him who had to retire. Laxman and Tendulkar
though must be feeling the breath of Father Time on the backs of their necks,
which means that the entire middle order is up for grabs to any Indian batsman
willing to put in the work.
Who then are the
contenders? So far on the A tour there have been two batsmen who have made
their presence known. Firstly Rohit Sharma, who was shamefully overlooked for
the entire Australian test series, bashed 94 in the first innings of the first
match. That will go a long way towards nicking Laxman’s spot, as it was scored
from number 5. He will need to keep the pressure on though, or else he might
continue to be ignored. The other fellow in contention is Cheteshwar Pujara. He
is the skipper of the A team, and more importantly, was the sole reason India A
managed to win the first game. In the first innings he scored a creditable 50,
but in the second he made 96 not out to drag his team over the line. India A
won by 2 wickets, and the next highest score was 27. That shows the sort of
mental toughness that the Indian batting lineup will lack in the post-Dravid
world.
There are a few other
contenders too, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, even Subraminiam Badrinath could
make a return. Raina has experience in Tests, however after 15 matches only
averages 29.58. Rahane had a stunning IPL, often playing very technically good
cricket. He is however yet to make his test debut, and has somewhat
underachieved in his international outings. Badrinath is a sad case, a good
player who will probably be considered on the wrong side of 30. While he might
have a first class average of 60 over 104 matches, every outing in Indian blue,
or white, has ended in disaster. He has probably lost his only chance after
failing against South Africa in 2010. There is also the small possibility that
Yuvraj Singh may return one day, provided his health improves.
So what path should
India take? For my money, a huge cleanout needs to happen, and soon. Dravid is
gone, Laxman has been awful in recent times and Tendulkar is just not the
batsman he once was. If I were selecting the team to play against the Black
Caps, I would have Pujara at 3, Kohli at 4, Sharma at 5 and Raina at 6. Out of
those four batsmen, there also has to be a future captain emerging, as Dhoni
cannot hang on forever if results don’t improve. Very few captains survive two
whitewashes in a row.
The West Indies is
also a very interesting case, partly because in almost every recent test, the
batting has been disastrous. In this instance it is a case of no young players nailing
down a spot, while the old guard (and by that I mean Chanderpaul) continue to
grind out the runs. Marlon Samuels has been a revelation on his return, however
he is known for inconsistency, so it may not last. Overall though, the next
generation of Barath, Powell, Edwards, Braithwaite and Darren Bravo have failed
to stamp their mark on the batting order. All play in the top 4, and while it
may be great having Chanderpaul and Samuels scoring heavily from 5 and 6, it is
somewhat pointless if they come in at 60-4.
In the first
unofficial test, most of the runs for West Indies A came from the lower order,
and not enough runs in general were scored. 19 year old Braithwaite may be just
ahead of the pack, after he scored a torturously slow 50 in the first match.
Moreover, he batted the entire first day of the second match to go to 66
overnight, off a titanic 292 balls. Such feats of endurance will endear him to
the selectors, and he may well find himself partnering a certain IPL superstar
at the top of the West Indies order in their next series. However, the only
reason he is playing for the A team is because he got dropped from the Test
team after averaging 21 from 9 games.
Each nation may have a
problem the opposite of the other, with the Indian old guard failing to fire,
and the West Indian seniors being the only ones firing. However, the roots of
both problems are the same. Not enough runs are being scored by the batsmen for
either side, and it is costing the team one Test after another. The losing
streaks for both sides are starting to look very bad, especially for the former
no.1, India. Batsmen who perform well in the A series should be given a shot at
higher honours, because lets face it, they can’t do any worse than the current
lot. Therefore, you should keep an eye on this series. It may tell you all you
need to know about the future of each nation’s Test sides.
