When the wheels come off for great teams, they unravel quickly and spectacularly. It happened to Australia under Ricky Ponting, after the legends – Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist – retired en masse. It happened to Alastair Cook’s England, who won an Ashes Down Under and a Test series in India. Indian cricket had been there before, in 2011-12, on the heels of back-to-back whitewashes in England and Australia. The current streak offers a throwback.
Dressing-room discord was an issue for the Indian team in Australia in 2011-12 also, with some players – Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in particular – singing from a different hymn sheet and having issues with MS Dhoni. The latter was on the verge of losing his Test captaincy after the series, only to be saved by then BCCI president N Srinivasan. But a squad overhaul happened.
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman hung up their boots. Sachin Tendulkar would call time on his career a couple of seasons later. Sehwag would be dropped and eventually Gambhir, too, would lose his place in the team.
India’s Test revival actually began in earnest when Dhoni retired mid-series in Australia in 2014-15 and Virat Kohli took over. India were ranked seventh at the time. The Kohli-and-Ravi Shastri duo would take them to the top of the tree. India became the best Test team in the world under their charge, winning matches in South Africa and England, and successive series in Australia.
Gambhir is now India’s head coach and after a home series whitewash against New Zealand followed by a 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the time has come for a rejig. A new cycle will begin from June, with a five-Test series in England, and India need to start afresh.
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It is learnt that some high-profile departures are on the cards, as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee and the BCCI look ahead. Ravichandran Ashwin announced his shock retirement after the Brisbane Test. According to sources, his ‘partner in crime’ for many years, Ravindra Jadeja, is on his way out as well. Moving forward, Axar Patel is going to be the team’s premier spin-bowling all-rounder.
Mohammed Shami missed the Test series in Australia, for he couldn’t make a full recovery. The 34-year-old fast bowler is likely to return for the Champions Trophy, but there’s a big question mark over his red-ball future.
Bigger questions involving the galacticos, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have to be answered. There’s a school of thought that Rohit, who stood himself down in Sydney, has already played his last Test, a belligerent TV interview, rubbishing retirement rumours, notwithstanding.
“I don’t see Rohit going to England,” Gilchrist said on the Club Prairie Fire podcast. In fact, the legendary former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman even suggested that the upcoming Champions Trophy could be Rohit’s last as far as international cricket is concerned. “I think he will probably have a crack at the Champions Trophy and that might be (it). That might see him out.”
According to a BCCI insider, apart from the next Test cycle, the 2027 World Cup, too, is firmly on the head coach’s mind, and a new-look side would be given enough time to bed in. Phasing out is going to be the order of the day.
What about Kohli? He is Indian cricket’s biggest brand. Also, notwithstanding his elongated form slump, he is the only bonafide batting great in the current Test team. Some reports suggest that the 36-year-old wants the England series in the summer to be his swansong.
But Shastri believes that Kohli still has a role to play, with the Indian team heading towards transition. “So, I think the contributing factor to this team is transition and the youngsters coming through the ranks,” the former India head coach told ICC Review. “There are a lot of guys (young players) there who can benefit from the experience of a player of Virat Kohli’s calibre.”
Agarkar and Gambhir will have to make some tricky calls, as Indian cricket enters a new phase.
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