The interesting situation of Indian top order in Test cricket
Virat Kohli has been the captain of the test side for 37 test matches now and not once he has played in 2 consecutive test matches with the same team. He has made a change in the playing 11 in every single match when he has captained the side.
This wasn't so much of a problem when the team was winning test matches and series in subcontinent conditions as any player who came in as a replacement didn't struggle to make an impact. But after a shattering display at Lord's where they lost by a huge margin of an innings and 159 runs, this constant chopping and changing in the side by Virat Kohli has come under the scanner. He's being criticized heavily for not having a settled batting lineup in test cricket.
But can you really blame Kohli for this?
You can argue that the constant chopping and changing by Virat Kohli is not allowing the players to be settled in these overseas conditions but none of them are even showing promise in these foreign conditions.
Part of this constant chopping and changing has been India's top order. Their opening combination is in a constant state of confusion, only Virat Kohli seems to have fixed role and place in the middle order.
Literally, nobody really knows what is going to be the opening combination in the next test match. Does Shikhar Dhawan again come back after being dropped in the second test? If he does come back who is he going to replace? Should Pujara be pushed as an opening batsman and Karun Nair be brought in the middle? There are many more questions and we can only make a guess of what's going to be the batting lineup in the next test match.
For a while now India have been able to get away from these problems thanks to some great performances at home and in the subcontinent. But in the middle of what could be their toughest challenge in recent times, all these problems are being highlighted.
All these players, the likes of Pujara, Vijay, Rahul, Dhawan have made truckload of runs in familiar conditions. This has been the pattern for a while now, all these players make a lot of runs at home and fail miserably overseas. The difference between their average at home and away is really big.
This decade has not seen an Indian opening stand beyond 75 runs in test Cricket in South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand. Even as India's first choice openers continue to flounder, the team management has persisted with them due to their stellar performance in subcontinent conditions.
Unless these batsman bridge the gap in their batting average and quickly, yet another series overseas may slip away.
