Bench Strength. What? Where?

India's test batting woes aren't soon going to end, if the India 'A' team's performance in the Caribbean is anything to go by. Except Pujara, and Rohit Sharma on one occasion, other batsmen just failed to get going against a persistent and hard working West Indies 'A' bowling attack. IPL successes for Rahane & Dhawan didn't seem to count for much as both failed to the capitalize on the golden opportunity. As has been the case lately, consistency seems to elude Rohit Sharma. After a 94 in the first innings of the series, all he could accumulate was 51 runs in the next 5 innings. Manoj Tiwary too couldnt set the stage on fire and only scored one half century in 6 innings. Unimpressive for two of India's brightest young talents. Pujara on the other end was the only one to keep Indian hopes high with stroke filled, patient 252 runs in six innings, also top scoring with a 96*. Wriddhiman Saha gave a good account of himself with two half centuries. Still needs to exude confidence to be the next best wicket keeper batsman in the country after Dhoni.

What this three test series has done is push Pujara way ahead of Manoj Tiwary, Rohit Sharma & Ajinkya Rahane in the running for the replacement for Dravid in the test side. Pujara will be the front runner to take over the no 3 position left vacant by Rahul Dravid. With not more than one season of test cricket left for Tendulkar & Laxman (assumption), India need strong replacements. At this point in time, no one from the younger, inexperienced lot look capable of playing quality pacemen in overseas pitches. If the same two teams clashed in Indian conditions, the results would have been the other way round. That said, Indian bowlers performed admirably while compared to their bat wielding colleagues. Shami Ahmed stood out with 13 wickets from the series. Left arm spinner Akshay Darekar six wicket haul was India's  only 5+ wicket haul in the series whilst the West Indies had five of them. 

Argument could again lead to blaming IPL for everything thats gone wrong with our players' ability to survive test match cricket. But it isn't entirely misplaced. Rahane, Rohit & Dhawan's prolific scores in the IPL or Rahul Sharma & Awana's successes didn't get translated into good performances in tests. Bowlers are still fighting it hard and Shami Ahmed, Dinda, Bhuwaneshwar Kumar and Awana didnt passably well. India surely are going to find it tough to replace Dravid, Tendulkar & Laxman in tests overseas unless there is a radical change in how the BCCI treats younger players. Regular overseas trip a must. Under 19 teams must have camps held in South Africa, England and Australia. Add Robin Bist, Mayank Aggarwal, Suryakumar Yadav, Mandeep Singh & Unmukt Chand to the list of prospective future Indian players, we have an impressive list on paper. On overseas, it would again be the case of paper tigers. 


But for now, can't wait for Pujara to take over Dravid's role and play alongside the stalwarts & Kohli and start laying the foundation for the next gen which will take over in a matter of few years.