The tough road to India’s transition

The past decade or more has seen a consistent rise in India’s travels to different parts of the world, to play in some of the most marquee series on the international calendar. However, one country has come calling more often than others. Barring England, India have emerged as Australia’s best opponents to rake in the moolah during their summers and less than four years since their astonishing 2-1 Test series win, they are embarking on another tour Down Under.

The tour this time, though, could have an additional significance to some of the others in the past decade as there is an increasing possibility that this might be the last dance for a number of stars and they must embark on a transition, the road to which may be filled with thorns.

There are four key issues that India must address when they begin this transition. The first of those is captaincy. February will mark three years since Rohit Sharma took over from Virat Kohli and while the numbers might seem impressive (12 wins in 21 matches with a winning percentage of 57.14%), the seven defeats have left an equally big dent in that record, as it includes a WTC final loss to Australia and a 0-3 whitewash to New Zealand.

India had the option of punting on a younger captain when Kohli gave up the reigns, perhaps a KL Rahul, perhaps a Jasprit Bumrah, but as MS Dhoni once alluded, split captaincy had slim chances of working out for everyone’s good in Indian cricket.

As things stand now, Bumrah looks the best possible option to takeover when Rohit decides he’s had enough. Yet, giving him leadership could mean India might have to dilute his role in white-ball cricket, where he is, unarguably, peerless. The other option is to hand it to Pant, despite being aware that he is very much taking baby steps into Test cricket, knowing very well that the results could go either way.

A third option, whose ship may have sailed, is to look at an interim option like R Ashwin, while a younger captain gets groomed under him. The all-rounder turned 38 in September and may well be in the last stretch of his career and while he may willingly accept the role if offered, you have to wonder if India have a younger aspirant, ready to take over from him.

That gives us a nice little segway into the next phase of the transition. Who is India’s next big off spinning hope, after Ashwin? Saransh Jain impressed in the Duleep Trophy, Tanush Kotian is a player who is in the Ashwin mould and the selectors seemed to have seen enough to be convinced he could do well with the ‘A’ team in Australia and then there is the outlier case of Jalaj Saxena, arguably Indian domestic cricket’s greatest workhorse of the 21st century.

India will hope a fourth option comes to their rescue, while making this decision, which is unearthing an unpolished diamond from the IPL. In his impressive autobiography, Ashwin speaks about the domestic grind that he went through in the pre-IPL days, but it helped him massively that Dhoni had the best view of him in the IPL which convinced him overtime that he was the right person to take the spin bowling mantle forward.

If India are sensible, the third bit of the transition could provide them the least headache, which is the person to take Ravindra Jadeja’s place in the side. Axar Patel has shown, across both red-ball and white-ball formats in the last 18-20 months, that he has the technique and temperament to bat in the top seven and has the skill with the ball to bowl in the Powerplay and in the middle overs in Test cricket.

Yet, India have decided not to take him to Australia for the Test series and instead, banked on Washington Sundar’s skillset to get the job done. It remains to be seen if the decision to omit Axar is for the short-term or long-term.

That leaves us with the fourth and final part to this transition and one that fans will dread the most when the time does come. Virat Kohli has been an incredible batter for large parts of his red-ball and white-ball career, but over the last three years he has shown a mortal side to him and the watching fan has feared that the ball to get him out was always around the corner.

When Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013, Kohli was two years into his Test career, had scored Test hundreds in India and Australia and in a lighter vein, was sponsored by Madras Rubber Factory (MRF). Rohit debuted in whites in Tendulkar’s farewell series and in these two turks, India had the option to push one of them to four to have a long and successful run in that position.

In their first series since Tendulkar’s retirement, Kohli was seen as that man and he began his time at four in as good a fashion as anyone could have, with a century against South Africa in Johannesburg against an attack that had Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis.

There has been absolutely no looking back since then and over the next decade, Kohli can claim to have become as a good a number four as Tendulkar was. Yet, time waits for none and at 36, Kohli is in a desperate search for a second wind like Tendulkar was at 34. You fear that there maybe none, but Kohli’s drive to succeed could mean that there would be no shortage in effort to get that second wind as a Test batter.

But the question remains: who after Kohli at 4? Can Sarfaraz take that step up? Does KL Rahul have the want and desire to bat there? Is there a new champion, that we don’t know, on the horizon?

When India went to Australia in 2011-12, many said it was their best chance to win a series since Independence. Yet, India lost 0-4, with more than half the side indicating that they needed a harsh look in the mirror. In that debris, India unearthed a gem in Kohli and while they will hope that the scoreline this time around isn’t the same, they would want to find their next superstar Down Under, like they did all those years ago.