#360view: Strength in reserve underlines India’s Test prowess

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  • Karun Nair is not a certainty despite scoring 303* in his previous Test.

    This has been a long season for team India. Starved of home Tests during a long overseas cycle from 2013-15, back-to-back series against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia across 13 matches make it seem like a rich payback for broadcasters and fans alike.

    Yet, the imbalance herein cannot be denied. After all, this is an ICC tournament year.

    With only eight ODIs pencilled in, along with three T20Is, the BCCI’s fixtures committee ignored a lack of limited-overs cricket for the men in blue in the run-up to June’s Champions Trophy in England and Wales.

    It puts the spotlight on what the Indian team was able to achieve in the recently concluded series against England. In the latter half of their tour, in 2017 that is, spanning across six limited-overs games, the visitors put up a bigger challenge than in the preceding Test series.

    For India though, the issues confronting them were different.

    From MS Dhoni calling time on his captaincy reign, to the difficulty of balancing the middle order properly, and finding a finisher at number six, new skipper Virat Kohli inherited a host of problems.

    It means hopes of defending their Champions Trophy crown will be increasingly difficult and that was evident when faced with an aggressive English side that continues to push existential boundaries.

    Statistics will say that England bottled it again on Indian soil. They haven’t done anything of note in India in the shorter formats since 2002, but in earnest they ran the hosts ragged in both ODIs and T20Is.

    It was a stern first test for Kohli, and in finishing both series as 2-1 victors, Dhoni’s successor found a few amenable solutions for the summer.

    It starts with Yuvraj Singh’s resurrection.

    Manish Pandey endured a poor run against New Zealand, thus forcing the team management’s hand.

    It is understandable that they wanted experience at number four if Dhoni was to bat at number five, thus paving the way for Kedar Jadhav to gain some confidence in the finisher’s role. Yuvraj’s good form in the Ranji season was just the right antidote.

    Of course, it is still a short-term solution, for both Yuvraj and Dhoni will be 37 by the time the 2019 World Cup rolls by.

    It is anybody’s guess if either of them will be around by then. Even so, this strategy – of cushioning the middle order with experience – allowed Jadhav to do what he does best. And it was his accomplishment at number six that India’s success story was written in the ODIs, giving them a firm plan for the Champions Trophy.

    Jadhav’s ballistic form in the finisher’s role ought to have come as a relief, but it points to a glaring dissimilarity in bench strength across different formats.

    In ODIs, they have struggled in the past two years to find a successor for Dhoni and a replacement for Suresh Raina. Only now, with a firm investment of time and opportunity, plus middle-order stability from Yuvraj and Dhoni, has Jadhav grown into this responsibility.

    “We have backed him over the last year, and it is priceless how he has come into his own, whilst giving senior batsmen the chance to bat higher up the order. It has been a perfect scenario for the Champions Trophy,” Kohli had said, after winning the ODI series 2-1.

    Meanwhile, in Tests, India’s current prowess is forged out of its strength in depth.

    At various times, Kohli has talked about how the number one Test ranking is just a mathematical calculation. Holding his words true then, India’s real standing as the premier Test side in the world today is down to their awe-inducing bench strength.

    From the openers to the seamers, through the middle order, keeper’s job and even the fifth bowler, there are at least two players available to Kohli for every position. It is an enviable position to be in.

    None of his counterparts from the chasing pack can boast of such a comfortable scenario when it comes to selecting their respective playing elevens. South Africa? No. England? No. Australia? Nope. Pakistan? Certainly not. West Indies? Ha!

    “It is down to the balance found by selectors and they need to be praised on finding players who have made this squad very competitive. At the same time, the players need to be complimented as well because they have maintained those standards of fitness and performance to stay in contention collectively,” Kohli said ahead of Bangladesh’s first Test on Indian soil, starting on Thursday in Hyderabad.

    The conundrum that is Ajinkya Rahane’s return from injury, and the subsequent displacement of Karun Nair from the playing eleven is a particular case in point.

    Rahane's Test record

    • Matches: 32
    • Runs: 2272
    • Average: 47.33
    • Centuries: 8

    It might give rise to the odd situation wherein Nair, after scoring a triple hundred in his last Test, might be dropped now, depending on the number of bowlers India pick. Yet, at the same time, it doesn’t negate his standing in the squad.

    Kohli clearly outlined in the pre-match press conference that the Indian vice-captain will be back in the side whenever fit, thanks to his fine performances over the past three years or so.

    “Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable. It sealed his spot as far as the squad was concerned. But you cannot overlook what Ajinkya has done in the past 2-3 years,” said Kohli..

    This formula – fit-again players stepping back into the side straightaway and replacements making way – was first put in place by Australia at the height of their powers under Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.

    As such, it reinforces the belief that Indian cricket is in the ascendancy in Test cricket and out on their own as the best team in the world. It is largely thanks to their immensely gifted players waiting in the wings.

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