Earlier Yuvraj & Raina battled for the place vacant after Ganguly`s retirement from test cricket at no. 6. Attacking middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh lost his place to another flashy batsman Raina for his poor form & the weakness against pace bowling. Now Yuvraj is out of the consideration due to his illness. His successor Suresh Raina started his test career quite brilliantly but is not successful enough to carry on. We all know that the young sensation Virat Kohli has lots of talents to be a great cricketer. He has lots of skills and has already showed some of his class acts in his early international career. But it is very early stage to tag him that he is the next brand of cricket in the `Team India`. He is in full of confidence after getting runs against Australia in the latest overseas tour. He made brilliant hundred in Australia at middle order. So he should carry on his progress at no. 6.
If Kohli bats at 6, India`s batting line up will be more dangerous. Now it is time to think who can be the successor in place of Rahul Dravid. I feel that Pujara is potentially an ideal replacement of `The Wall`. He is playing well as a leader in the Caribbean tour. I read an article of Harsha Bhogle few years ago. He valued him one of the brightest prospects of Indian cricket. Now it is the perfect platform for him to cement his place in the test squad. He certainly gets the edge ahead of Rohit Sharma to the selectors for his excellent temperament & talent. Rohit Sharma is considered to be the most talented young batsman in the present cricket world by some cricket experts. But Pujara can handle the pace & spin attacks well & play according to the situation. He can also play the big shots in case of urgency. The team management should send him bat at no. 3.
India will play 10 tests from August 2012 to March 2013. Playing against New Zealand in the upcoming home series veteran Laxman is probably going to put off his batting pads from the international cricket. Rohit Sharma should get the chance at no. 5 in his absence. On the other hand Rahane, Raina, Badrinath, Manoj, Mukund, Murali Vijoy, Pandey, Dhawan & Saha etc who are in the selector`s short list for future should wait for the next chance. They will feel them lucky if they get chances unexpectedly to play in the main eleven. All of them are talented without any doubt. But they have scored tons of runs in the domestic circuit in the typical flat batting wickets. So those remarkable contributions do not prove anything special. They should be tested more in the green surface to prove them perfect for the national team.
Present Captain of Team India MS Dhoni Gave a hint of retiring from longer version cricket in 2013. So he should give chances to young wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha to play some tests before his retirement. On the other side of the corner, Virender Sehwag has expressed his desire to be batted at no. 4 after Sachin`s retirement. So experienced Viru should bat at no. 4 after Tendulkar`s departure. Then another opening slot will be vacant. Abhinav Mukund, Murali Vijoy, Rahane, Dhawan should be contender to fill the gap. I am in favour of Mukund to be the innings opener with Gautam. Some critics can argue with me regarding this idea. I have found after following Indian domestic cricket closely that Mukund is better batsman than any other top order young batsman. However, I have to mention that Ajinka Rahane is also a regular performer in the past few years in the Ronji Trophy. They can be the next ideal opening pair for India after couple of seasons.
India is still so much weak in the bowling department. There is no match winning spinner in the team instead of Harbhajan Singh. But he has lost his form & rhythm. If he is back at his rhythm, he should get another chance to deliver for his team. Ashwin, Ojha have done typical job in the sub-continent pitches. But they should put an extra effort to prove them as match-winners. Apart from them, Rahul Sharma & Jadeja are in the radar of the selection committee as well.
Zaheer Khan is the only world-class pacer in the seam attack. Praveen, Irfan, Vinay, Munaf cannot be too much effective with their gentle medium pace unless they get extra help from the tracks. They have to bowl in the strict lines, lengths & use variations cleverly to get wickets and restrict the batsmen to swing their bats. Irfan with his experience should deliver something for his national side in the upcoming years. Besides, Ishant, Sreeshanth & RP Singh are always fighting with their forms & injuries. Ishant has started his journey well before leaving out from the team due to his injury. I think that Sreeshanth is more effective & aggressive bowler in the test matches. I am so much exited about Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron & Jaydev Unadkat among the new talents. They have the courage to bowl at 140-145 km/h speed regularly. If they are trained & nurtured well they can be not only the leaders of Indian bowling attacks for the next 10 years but also for the world cricket for some time.
Presently India is at no. 4 in the ICC Test Cricket Rankings. They are going under a critical phase. It may be continued for another 1-2 years as the key players are in the exit mood from the longer version cricket. If Tendulkar & Zaheer do not fly to South Africa in 2013 & Dhoni retires from the test cricket before that series, my starting eleven for the 1st test against South Africa will be like as follows:
01. Gautam Gambhir (Captain) 02. Abhinav Mukund 03. Cheteshwar Pujara 04. Virender Sehwag 05. Rohit Sharma 06. Virat Kohli 07. Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper) 08. Ravichandran Ashwin 09. Irfan Pathan 10. Umesh Yadav 11. Varun Aaron
South African tour is a long way to go for the blues. Many things can be happened during 2012-2013 season for them. But BCCI should reform the cricket formats in the domestic competitions and think practically about their real situations. India is a nation renowned for producing talented cricketers. So cricket board should use this excited bunch of players properly. If they can able to do it, they will be bounce back in the cricket world very soon. Now the final question arises: can they be able to regain their No. 1 spot in the test cricket within couple of years?
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