So, India has lost its seventh overseas test match on the trot. The captain wants to quit one of the forms of the game, presumably, the longest version of the game. Three days after he made his intention clear, he was banned for a game for poor overrate. The team is in disarray. TV anchors are making hay. Strident and purposeless observations - and in some cases, even tasteless attacks have been made. However, the engineer in me, forces a certain paradigm of problem solving. Systematic and unemotional.
- We need green top tracks; hard seaming surfaces - that help our bowlers to practice and build on the art of pace and swing bowling.
- We need a solid bowling coach who will ensure that bowlers can stick to a certain line and length with discipline over a span of tests. Just like the current Australian attack has been. We need a Craig as well.
- Sharpening the saw:
- We have persisted with Ishant's technical flaws for long. We must give him a deadline to fix his issues, support him to blossom to become our strike bowler. Else, we must move on. Same comment holds for other bowlers as well.
- Raina and others have refused to fix their short comings against the short stuff. May be the green tops on domestic circuit will force the issue. Or, these gentlemen must be sent for an extended county assignment.
- What should the BCCI do to motivate the players to work on their gaps? I am not clear what tools and techniques we have at our command here. Dropping the non-performers is one way to do this. Are there non-threatening alternatives ?
- We must ensure that our young talent is constantly encouraged to spend some time in the English County Cricket. This is the best way for the folks to get a sense of what it takes to do well on overseas strips.
- That brings us to the batting section of the draw.
- Test matches are won, when openers gives a start to the rest of the batting line up to build a 400+ score in their first essay. We do not have an opening pair that can consistently deliver on this metric. Sehwag has not been consistent on the overseas - non-subcontinental tracks. Worrisome. I hear that he wants to play down the order. Who are our openers? We need a Chetan Chauhan + Gavaskar class pair for tests.
- Our middle order must be able to spend long hours at the crease - like Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar did in the 80s. The T20 culture of "hit out or get out" attitude does not work well in a test match situation.
- Now comes the toughest task - one of selecting a possible test squad with an eye for the future given what I know of current talent.
- Abhinav Mukund
- Gautam Gambhir [ Captain ]
- Virender Sehwag / Rahul Dravid
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli
- Rohit Sharma
- Saha
- Pragyan Ojha
- R Ashwin
- Zaheer Khan
- Umesh Yadav
- Praveen Kumar
- Varun Aaron
- Live with Ishant / Pathan ?
- I think that Suresh Raina has age on his side to make a statement after he fixes his flaws; Yuvraj seems to be running out of time.
- It is curtains for the fearsome foursome - Laxman, Dravid, Tendulkar and Sehwag. I have retained two of them to help transition. We need to set a "use by date" and move on. It is sad, but, like in life all great things must come to end.
- There are atleast 4 slots available in this lineup for fresh talent in the coming 12-18 months - positions 1, 3, 8 and 11. I think a solid opener's slot and wicket keeper batsman slot is open today.
Cheers!!!
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