Do Indian batsmen become indispensable too easily?
India's current overseas tour is turning out to be an all too familiar story for Indian cricket fans. The batting continues to fail and India have regularly found themselves in the middle of batting collapses and reduced to scores like 100/5 or 110/7 regularly.
The worry is that, for all these batsmen, this isn't their first rodeo. All these batsmen have had multiple tours overseas and still can't seem to get the hang of those conditions.
Murali Vijay
Vijay has an average of just 29 in overseas tests. If we look at overseas tests India have played since 1st January 2016, Vijay's average is only 12 in 10 innings.
If we include all tests played since 1st Jan 2017, including those played in India, his average is 35.85. Now, one could do a lot worse than an average of 35 in tests, but even so, that average over a sustained period of 12 tests shouldn't make you an irreplaceable opener.
Yet, Vijay is an automatic selection for tests as an opener and his place is under no threat despite a very very poor recent record as an opener overseas. When fit, Vijay is assured of his place in the XI.
No new opener has been tried, the Indian contingent seems to be very content with Vijay's rather mediocre record as an opener.
Why is Vijay's place so secure? Because he scored a 100 on the tour to England in 2014?
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane is yet another player living off that one 100 he scored in 2014. There is no denying that Rahane's 100 at Lord's in 2014 was a special knock, but he cannot expect to live off of that one century for the rest of his career.
In recent tests, he hasn't scored a 50 in 13 test innings. This would be at some level excusable if he was getting a lot so 40s or 30s at least. However in those 13 innings, barring one score of 48, Rahane hasn't scored more than 18 in the other 12 innings.
In all tests played since 1st Jan, 2017 including those played in India, Rahane's batting average is 29.08. However, despite a run of poor scores over a sustained period, Rahane's place in the playing XI is assured.
He is another one of India's undroppables. Why? Because he scored a 100 in 2014?
KL Rahul
Then there is KL Rahul. He had a great start to his career with a 100 in Australia but has gone downhill since then. KL Rahul is no spring chicken and has been playing tests since December 2014.
His average in tests since 1st Jan, 2017 is a very nominal 34. In tests outside India in that period, Rahul's avg is 20, while in overseas (outside Asia), his avg is 8.12 in 8 innings. However, he is still undroppable and regularly plays for India.
Unfair to Ranji Players
A whole generation of some very fine Ranji batsmen like Subramanian Badrinath did not get many Test caps for India, because they were behind in the pecking order to the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman and Sehwag.
There wasn't much to be said for those batsmen as they really did face an uphill task replacing the legends of Indian cricket. However, the current crop of Ranji performers not being able to find a place in the Indian test XI, owing to the fact that players like Vijay, Rahane and Rahul are undroppable because of that 1 test 100 they scored years ago, is becoming very hard to fathom.
One hundred shouldn't make someone irreplaceable
A place in the Indian test XI should be far tougher to hold onto, let alone be treated as a private personal property because you scored that one test hundred eons ago. The point is not to say that they have scored only 1 test hundred in their careers, but it is that 1 test hundred that they scored, that seems to be over-ride all their other failures.
It's not like there is a lack of talent at the Ranji level, but the star batsmen of the Ranji trophy find the door to India's test team as firmly shut as it was during the era of the fabulous five of Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman.
Colossus in Asia, but failures overseas
Then there is Cheteshwar Pujara. He is no doubt a colossus at batting in the subcontinent. His test average in home tests is 62.42, while is avg in test in Asia is 65.
A phenomenal performer in Asia no doubt. However, his overseas record leaves a lot to be desired. His overseas average is less than half of his Asian average at 26.32.
In overseas tests since 1st Jan, 2014, Pujara's batting avg is a disconcerting 22.10. Pujara's ability in Asia is beyond question, no test legend from any Asian country comes even close to matching Pujara's numbers in Asia, not Sachin Tendulkar, not Rahul Dravid, not Sangakarra, not Younis Khan.
However given Pujara's performances on overseas tours, must he be a regular in the playing XI in overseas tests? Of course I will concede that Pujara has been left out of the playing XI on occasions, so he has not been treated as an undroppable player, but even so, he has been of the playing XI overseas on more occasions than not.
Lastly, there is Shikhar Dhawan, who cannot be called undroppable by any means. He got dropped after 1 test in South Africa and then again dropped after just 1 test in England, even though curiously enough, he had scored more runs in the 1st test than the two openers who retained their place.
In the current squad, Shikhar Dhawan is India's opener with the highest average (42.98, Vijay - 39.33, KL Rahul - 37.73). Much like Pujara, Dhawan is a colossus playing in Asia, where his batting average as an opener is 61.00 after 24 innings.
However, his struggles in overseas tests are amply captured by his average of 28.17. Dhawan is clearly great when playing in familiar conditions, but does he need to be part of overseas tests, especially, when the team management themselves seem to have almost no faith in his abilities, and drop him at first failure.
Pujara and Dhawan have at least done phenomenally well playing in Asia, its only their selection on overseas tours that is under question. However, for Vijay, KL Rahul and Rahane the questions are endless.
Changes Necessary
BCCI needs to replace these three batsmen and make a point that such performances are not good enough.
For Pujara and Dhawan, BCCI needs to look at horses for course approach, where they could play in tests in Asia, and be 'rested' for overseas tests. A test average of over 60, even in familiar conditions, is no joke and not to be taken lightly, but one cannot keep ignoring their failings overseas.
BCCI needs to bring in new faces. Most batsmen will help India win at home. Karun Nair is a fine example of that, who scored a triple hundred against England to seal the win for India. However, India now need to start focusing on batsmen who could do it overseas as well, something that the current lot of Indian batsmen (barring Kohli) have failed at.
The upcoming home series against West Indies is the perfect opportunity to introduce new faces to international test cricket, and then take the new players to Australia. The likes of Rahane, Vijay and KL Rahul have had ample opportunities to cement their place and they have failed to make the most of those opportunities, and now they must make way for other talented players.