Tour of Australia is a big test for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

virtue of merit and keeping the team’s future and transition in mind.

By Karthik Parimal

It is not often that the national selectors are appreciated for a job well done, but they deserve a big round of applause for picking a team to the tour of Australia by virtue of merit and keeping the team’s future and transition in mind.

A perfect mix of youth and experience, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane will gain invaluable experience sharing the dressing room with stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in this side. Also, India will be happy to have their regular openers aboard, especially after its quest to find a right opening combination proved to be a massive headache on the disastrous tour of England in the absence of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who were both out of the side at one particular point of time owing to injuries.

Sehwag and Gambhir both had a decent outing in the recently-concluded home series against the West Indies, although one got the feeling that Gambhir could have contributed a little more at the top. Nevertheless, they both look fit and ready to take on the Australian bowlers. Dravid turned out to be India’s top scorer in this series yet again, scoring 319 runs in five innings at an average of 63.80. He also became the second batsman in the history of Test cricket to score over 13,000 runs, and is next only to Tendulkar now. An epitome of elegance, a man with the calibre and efficiency of Dravid can play a major role in the outcome of the series against Australia. India will be hoping he carries his fine form along.

Rohit Sharma had a fantastic run in this season’s Ranji Trophy, but it was Virat Kohli who took Yuvraj Singh placed at No 6 in the nail-biting third and final Test against West Indies. Nonetheless, he should look to make the most of any opportunity that comes along during the tour of Australia. He’s been drafted into the side on previous occasions too owing to tremendous performances at the domestic level, but unfortunately failed to replicate those good performances often on the international stage. The series in Australia will be a litmus test for Rohit, considering equally-skilled players like Cheteshwar Pujara are waiting and desperate to make a statement if and when given an opportunity.

After struggling against short deliveries in the West Indies and missing the series against England, Kohli can take heart and confidence from his performance in the only Test he was picked for to play against the West Indies at Mumbai. He scored two half-centuries and showed that he was determined and ready to do whatever it took to excel on the biggest stage of cricket. The tour of Australia provides a perfect opportunity for Kohli to do justice to the immense talent he possesses and cement his place in the side.

Another praiseworthy move by the selectors was showing faith in Ajinkya Rahane and selecting him for this important tour. It is heart-warming to note that a talented youngster like Rahane wasn’t discarded immediately after one series. Also, the option of having Wriddhiman Saha as the second wicketkeeper for this tour appears to be a sensible move.

Coming to the bowling department, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron have all impressed, and the return of Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan (if fit) will be a huge boost and shot in the arm for India. The most impressive of the lot were Ashwin and Ojha, claiming 42 wickets between them in the three-Test series against the West Indies. They made ample use of the turn available on typical Indian wickets and had the batsmen dancing to their tunes for most sessions during the Tests.

There seems to be no comeback for Harbhajan Singh in the near future, especially considering Ojha and Ashwin’s brilliance with the ball. Ashwin also proved that he is no dummy with bat when he romped his way to a magnificent century in the first innings of the third Test against a decent West Indian bowling attack. This is another area where the selectors earned some brownie points, since by dropping Harbhajan they made it clear that reputation doesn’t matter, and that the only basis of selection was performance.

Yadav and Aaron, too, bowled their hearts out on flat Indian tracks and are sure to taste more success if they can replicate the same effort on Australian pitches. Fortunately, they can gain from the presence and experience of bowlers like Zaheer, Praveen and Ishant Sharma to an extent. Situation no longer looks that grim for India on the bowling front, as these bowlers have it in them to succeed and infiltrate any batting line-up.

All in all, with the current available resources, this is the best Indian team that can be sent to Australia, and it certainly appears that the selectors have made some right moves. Considering the fact that the present Australian team is undergoing a transitional period, it provides the Indian team a great opportunity to dominate their opponents and leave a mark Down Under.

(If cricket is a religion and has many devotees, Karthik Parimal would be a primary worshipper. This 23 year old graduate student, pursuing his Masters in Engineering, could be an appropriate example of how the layers of what inspires, motivates and keeps one happy run deeply in our daily lives. He, unlike others, is not too disappointed about not making it big by playing for the country, but believes that he plays the sport every day with his heart by watching and writing on it)