India A’s defeat against Australia A at Chennai last week may have surprised some home supporters, what with Virat Kohli also being in the team and Rahul Dravid in charge in his new role as coach-cum-mentor.
One can’t be overly critical after a solitary defeat obviously. But the adverse result serves up warning: it shows how ‘top heavy’ Indian cricket is; that the bench strength, to coin a conundrum, may actually be quite frail.
This wouldn’t have been lost on Kohli who begins his stint as full-fledged captain from the tour of Sri Lanka beginning next week. He leads a fairly young and settled side. But Kohli has played long enough to know things can get unsettled suddenly and easily. A captain must have options available to him.
Kohli himself showed strong intent thing by volunteering to play. He could familiarize with conditions that would be similar to those obtained in Sri Lanka. More importantly it gave him the chance to also assess some of those who would be on tour with him.
Though he wasn’t captaining, being part of the mix afforded him better understanding of these players. This was good thinking for 'star’ players generally prefer time out if they are not chosen. Kohli’s pro-active approach spells a departure from this culture and will hopefully be emulated by others.
Kohli couldn’t make much of an impact, though the time he spent in the middle in scoring 45 in the second innings would have helped his confidence. It is spurious logic to expect one player to bail the side out. In any case, it is the other ten who were under scrutiny to establish their credentials.
This is where the match was disappointing from the Indian point of view.
There were some disquieting factors in the manner in which the side was thrashed by 10 wickets on a spin-friendly pitch which was expected to work to the disadvantage of the visitors.
On the slow turner, Australia’s pace bowlers Sandhu and Fekete picked up nine wickets between them in the two innings. In contrast, young Varun Aaron and Shardul Thakur — both striving for a place to in the national team — couldn’t get even one.
Perhaps more disappointing aspect was how India performed with spin — in batting and bowling. While Baba Aparajith had a five-wicket haul, the total number of wickets picked up by the slow bowlers from either side was similar.
The Australian batsmen, who were expected to crumble on this pitch, actually fared better than Indian batsmen who were expected to do well. India’s spinners included Pragyan Ojha, who has been around for a while, and Axar Patel, in whom so much optimism is vested.
What this match effectively highlights is that India’s domination in spin conditions in the longer format — in batting and bowling —is not what it used to be. This is a core issue that cannot be obscured any longer.
Some signs of this were evident when England —through Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar — beat India in India in 2012-13. What seemed then like an aberration must now be viewed with some alarm. Apart from R. Ashwin, no other Indian spinner has been able to hold his place in the side for long.
The recall of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra shows the paucity of young spin talent in the country. While there are many spinners, their wicket-taking ability even at home is suspect.
This has led to upcoming batsmen too not acquiring the mastery of batsmen of old.
Whether this is due to pitches or — as is more likely — the overemphasis on limited overs cricket — it is a crisis that needs to be addressed urgently if India are to remain a force in Test cricket.
