Post-Dravid, the Indian batting is as fickle as a dry twig: a look at India 2013

by Binoo K John Rahul Dravid’s expected announcement of retirement from international cricket, without waiting for any grandstanding occasion at a home venue where the stadium would have risen as one man, was gallantly and humbly done. Typical of the man. In India retirements never happen, they just fade way grumbling.  A forced dropping from the team is  followed by a lot of recriminations and  backdoor attempts to get back.  The various attempts made to remove Saurav Ganguly, starting with the one by Greg Chappell, are examples before us. [caption id=“attachment_240018” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“With Dravid out and imminent departure of Laxman and Tendulkar, who are the potential replacements? Getty Images”] [/caption] When the big guys go, there is a sense of disbelief and a sense of the void.  When Dravid walked in at number three we all sat back with a sense of relief for he was sure to stand there, and the crease was where he sent down roots.  To gauge the depth and scale of that void is what we have to do now. The immediate outcome is that the pressure on Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman to follow suit will be immense. Various former Test cricketers have called for a change and Dravid’s exit is only going to increase the clamour for the two other biggies to follow suit. Sachin may get his 100th ton at the Asia Cup in the friendly environs of the Dhaka stadium. After that his usefulness to Indian cricket, both one-day and Tests will be questioned. The home series starting in September-October may be his last because he will  see no more boundaries to cross. Or  he will have to continue to pretend that he did not hear the various hints that were dropped. Ditto VVS Laxman. The home series offers the last occasion for one last walk back to the pavilion and for us to stand up for that great middle order bat.  2013 will thus start quite bleakly for  India which fortunately has an away series only in July next year and that too to Zimbabwe. So with Dravid-Sachin-Laxman not there the Indian Test team is likely to look as good as the U-19 team on its first tour.   Virender Sehwag looks increasingly like one who has lost his interest in the game. His body language on field is utterly depressing and he suggests that he is doing everyone a favour by just limply hanging around in the field. This happens to the best of sportsmen, some of whom like Pete Sampras quit for this reason alone when he easily had two more years on the circuit and millions to make.  It seems quite unlikely  that Yuvraj Singh will play high level cricket again. How much fitness can you regain after radiation treatment and how long will you last as a player? This is one tragedy which will take us a long time to come to terms with. So in year 13 of the 21st century the Indian team will have five batsmen trying to cement their places in the team. Look at the names of possibilities: Cheteshwar Pujara, (a disappointment so far in the big league), Rajasthan middle order bat Robin Bist (averaging 86.16 this season’s domestic circuit and a record 1034 runs ) and opener Vineet Saxena with a slow double century raising hopes of good  defensive technique. There is also opener Abhinav Mukund of Tamil Nadu who scored a gutsy 48 against West Indies who can be tried lower down the order. All this to add to the existing off-on batting stars like Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. It is a dismal choice we all will admit. Barring Virat Kohli, the others will need at least five Tests on home wickets (where they all have been dadas) before we can vouch for them and send them out to face  the might of Australian, English and South African bowling. At least three of them will have to be given time out in the middle in the home Test series. Just to get used to the idea read this list. Incidentally this is not a Ranji Team but India 2013 June: Gautam Gambhir. Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Tiwary,  Rohit Sharma/Raina, Dhoni, and then the bowlers.  An utterly undependable batting line up which will cross 200 only at home.  To add muscle to the batting in Tests, Bengal’s Wriddhiman Saha, now a dependable bat will have to be inducted as wicket keeper and Dhoni in the team just as a batsman. This way Dhoni can control the team from mid-on or mid-off instead of behind the sticks, for which India has had a heavy price to pay. Also he needs to be taken away from wicket keeping in Tests just like Kumar Sangakara has done for Sri Lanka. With this team it is unlikely that we can make a pitch to reclaim the number one spot. During a future home series, when our wickets start falling and the home pitch dadas depart for the pavilion in a hurry, we will all recall a man named Rahul Dravid. And yearn for him.