England vs India 2018: India's batting woes is a massive writing on the wall
There's a reason why Indian batsmen have earned the notorious moniker of being "flat-track bullies" from social media trolls. While their sheer dominance on flat subcontinental tracks is widely acknowledged, their perennial weakness against swing keeps getting exposed time and time again on tours outside the subcontinent. Yet the BCCI management miserably fails to alleviate their suffering.
The overt commercialization of the game has resulted in demands for batsman-friendly pitches in order to entertain the spectators and attract new audiences to the gentleman's game. And that has turned into an enormous predicament for Indian batsmen on overseas tours to England and South Africa, where the pitches are seamer-friendly.
The over-reliance on spinners on doctored subcontinental pitches further diminishes the prospects of aspiring fast bowlers to prove their mettle and seriously challenge the batsmen. Although pitches across the world have dramatically altered over the previous decade tormenting bowlers of all hues and colors, green tops are the modern batsman's worst nightmare.
If there ever was a doubt, now the writing is on the wall. Indian cricket is in dire need of a massive overhaul. The BCCI should direct curators to prepare seamer-friendly pitches alternately during Ranji Trophy matches in order to provide a level playing field for the fast bowlers and equip the batsmen to tackle the moving ball.
The modern cricketer should learn to adapt to difficult conditions from a young age if he or she aspires to play all formats of the game. While dust bowls might help manufacture monumental victories in India, it will hardly help our batsmen endure swing and bounce for long hours abroad.
The Eden Gardens test against Sri Lanka last year also provided a classic example of what ails our batsmen - a tinge of grass and moisture in the air facilitating swing made the world-class Indian batting order collapse like a pack of cards.
It is also time to look beyond the Shikhar Dhawans and Murali Vijays as far as test cricket is concerned. After successive failures overseas, the BCCI Selection Committee finally acknowledged the elephant in the room and dropped Rohit Sharma from the Test squad. While it disappointed the hitman's devoted band of supporters, the swashbuckling Mumbai batsman's lackluster performances outside the subcontinent in red ball cricket caught up with him.
Apart from Virat Kohli, almost every batsman looked like a shadow of their subcontinental selves in Edgbaston. It's time to pass the baton to the Rishabh Pants and Prithvi Shaws.