What should be the Indian Test XI going forward
India are the world number one Test team, a statement which many will refuse to agree with after seeing the performances of the Indian players in the first two Test matches against England, which they lost by 31 runs and followed it up with a loss by an innings and -- runs.
More than the defeat, the players, especially the batsmen were clueless against the English bowlers. The selectors should take a bold call, act wisely and drop the non-performing players and bring in some players, who can add some value to the team.
The India A team that is playing South Africa has some exciting prospects who can do well in Tests. The selectors should give them a call-up and see how they perform at the top level. Even if they fail, that is fine but there is no hope in just continuing with batsmen who are clueless instead of trying out some new names and see how they go about their job.
Let us take a look at how the Indian XI should be in Tests going forward.
Openers - Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw
Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, all three openers in the Test series against England have failed to prove themselves in testing conditions. Dhawan managed to score 26 and 13 in the first Test before he was dropped for the second.
Murali Vijay, on the other hand, scored 20 and six in the first Test and got out for a pair (zero in both the innings) in the second. It will be really surprising if he plays the next Test, especially given the way how the team management is making decisions when it comes to picking the XI.
Rahul also has looked clueless in the series so far as he has registered scored of 4, 13, 8 and 10. Dhawan scoring more runs in one Test than the other two batsmen in two Test matches shows the quality of Indian openers in England.
The selectors should take some bold calls if they want the team to do well in the format away from home. The likes of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw have been scoring tons and tons of runs for India A and if the selectors are not rewarding the consistent performers in the domestic circuit and keep persisting with batsmen, who are clearly off-colour, then playing domestic cricket is of no use.