3 reasons why India should play 6 specialist batsmen in Australia
The Indian Test team's overseas woes seem to be a never-ending saga as they flatter to deceive every time they go out of Asia. Post-2011 World Cup, India has lost overseas tours far too often despite having a talented bunch of players.
The Indian Test team played their best cricket overseas for about 10 years prior to the 2011 World Cup led by some of the best batsmen in the world and few world class bowlers as well.
The Present team also boasts of some world class batsmen and an outstanding bowling line-up, but their overseas performance seems to be on the other end of the spectrum.
Team India failed both in South Africa and England earlier this year. The bowling unit delivered on both these tours but the batting bar Virat Kohli failed to live up to expectations.
Due to these reasons, the underperforming batting unit needs a bit of restructuring for the Australian tour and one of those steps is the inclusion of 6 specialist batsmen in the team.
Let us take a look at three reasons as to why India should include 6 specialist batsmen in their playing eleven during the Australian tour:
#3 All-rounders are deficient in their batting skills in the overseas environment
On paper, the Indian team has three all-rounders namely Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. These players have an excellent batting record in India but their overseas batting record is nothing to write home about.
In spite of getting multiple opportunities, these players have not been able to perform with the bat outside Asia. It's high time that Indian management accepts the fact that these players cannot be considered all-rounders in alien conditions.
Since these players are not consistent enough on the batting front and Indian batting needs an additional hand in overseas conditions, it will be more prudent to play a specialist batsman in place of these so-called all-rounders.