CHENNAI: JUST how fast the night changes, eh?
Deep inside the bowels of The Oval less than two years ago, Rohit Sharma, smarting from a big defeat at the hands of Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, had hinted at changes. "... there are a lot of players who are doing really well in our domestic cricket," he had said in a terse press conference. "It's about finding them."
Two years later, as the next WTC cycle comes to an end, Sharma's less than satisfactory tenure as red-ball skipper has ended. Not just his. Out of the XI that featured in that final, four of the first five are either out of favour (Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara) or retired (Sharma and Virat Kohli). Ravindra Jadeja, the lone spinning all-rounder in that game, is still a starter but his skills are waning.
Out of the wicket-keeper and bowlers, it will take a lot of injuries to see Srikar Bharat as he is probably fourth or fifth choice, while Umesh Yadav may not play in India whites again. There's a cloud over Mohammed Shami post his return from injury while Shardul Thakur is a doubtful starter even on the best of the days.
In fact, the only you thing you can say with any certainty is that out of the XI, only two — Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj — are automatic starters in the first Test against England in Leeds from June 20. The cake has been cut, the celebratory messages have been sent on social media and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have thanked both Sharma and Kohli for their services to the national team.
Now, though, begins the onerous task of picking multiple replacements, most of whom would still be learning the grammar of Test cricket. The one thing to acknowledge from that lone Test in 2023 was the number of injuries India had. Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul weren't fit then but expect the trio to join Gill and Siraj in the first Test. That's a decent spine, with two bowlers, a couple of batters and a keeper.
Over the last few years, Yashasvi Jaiswal has made a name for himself as a multi-format opener. He is nailed on to walk out, possibly with Rahul as his opening partner. Next comes Nos. 3 and 4. Assuming Gill occupies the spot left vacant by Kohli, No. 3 could be up for grabs. The likely candidates are, at least at this point in time, a bunch of first among equals. The batters in the front of this particular queue are B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal.
Both have decent first-class numbers and have been on 'A' tours in the recent past so there is already an element of the management familiar with their strengths. Sudharsan has probably just nudged ahead Padikkal but a final call may have been decided based on their showings in the shadow tour before the first Test. With the IPL now finishing only in the first week of June, one needs to see the fate of that tour.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has travelled as the reserve opener on multiple foreign tours but it looks likely that his time has come and gone. It was telling that Padikkal, on the shadow tour in Australia, featured for the seniors even if Easwaran was there as part of the main squad. Assuming the team management continues with their template of having multiple two-skilled cricketers in the lower middle-order, expect Pant to be the No. 5. It may be a risk to start with only four specialist batters but this is a team that did just that in Australia. Assuming they play three out-and-out pacers, it may come down to a stylistic choice between Shami and Prasidh Krishna. The latter's hit-the-deck style of bowling could be preferred, at least in the first Test. That, then, means three remaining slots.
There are multiple ways for the team to fill these slots. One would be going down the way of Dhruv Jurel or a Karun Nair. The latter made truckloads of runs in the Ranji Trophy and was a dead cert to figure in the shadow tour. The former, who played in Australia, is a fire-fighter of a batter and will lend some solidity at No. 6. This management rates both Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy highly as their multi-skills sufficiently lengthens the batting line-up.
The likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan may travel but they currently only have an outside chance of making the XI. After Sharma had dropped himself for the final Test in Australia in January, he did a very un-Indian captain thing of speaking his mind while the game was on. “It is very difficult to say," he had told Star when he was asked if anybody in the next generation was ready to lead the side. "There are many boys. But I want them to understand the importance of cricket first. Understand the importance of this place. They are new boys. I know they should be given responsibility. But let them earn it. Let them play some hard-fought cricket for the next few years or whatever it is. Let them earn it."
Without Sharma and Kohli hand-holding the batting unit, something they have done in Tests for a long time, Gill & Co. face a fight on their hands. If they master it, they will have earned it.
