No one can deny that The senior Indian players are approaching the end of their careers but that does not mean they can be replaced en masse. The impression that is given, not said by everyone though, is that they are playing when they do not deserve a place in the side. This is not correct. And disproven by their performance as well as that of those youngsters given the chance to represent India in recent times.
That they will all eventually go is undeniable as is the fact that many youngsters have been tried and not many have shown consistency as shown by these guys. The problem for India is serious. These seniors are continuing not just because they are so good but also because the youngsters coming in havent shown any great consistency.
I see so many people suddenly jumping on the "bring in Viraat Kohli" band wagon. I do hope and pray that this boy from my home town is a future India champion but really, isn't it a bit early to jump to conclusions about how great a player he is. How many people here thought so greatly f him even 12 months ago. So its early days. Dont just jump up and form proclaim a champion every time a 20 year old scores a hundred.
Coming back to the seniors. Ganguly is going and it is not too early. Ganguly has played enough cricket. 110 Tests for someone who averages 41 and plays as a pure batsman is a hell of a lot. In the entire history of the game only two batsmen (pure batsmen) have played more Tests - Atherton (115) and Fleming (111). Of these Atherton was a further specialist being an opener. If he was a middle order batsman, then with his record he might have played a few matches less I guess. Both Atherton and Fleming were superb specialist fielders too unlike Ganguly.
So Ganguly hasn't been hard done by selectors and he is going at a good time for him.
Kumble has to go. His time has come. Nothing to do with age again (as with Ganguly). Its his performance. He is not the force he was and has surely become more predictable. It was not common to see players who played him for the very first time, and on sub-continental wickets, not to be completely at sea. He will still get the odd good haul but that's because he isn't going to forget his art. Its just that he has been worked out fairly well and he has lost his nip.
That leaves Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. I suspect they will go out in this order - Laxman, Tendulkar and last of all Dravid. For India to lose all of them (after Ganguly) would be disastrous and we are never going to find four batsmen to replace them in a hurry.
Remember Yuvraj as a youngster was far more talented than any of the boys being championed today and he is still not able to command a permanent place - and he has PLENTY of backers in India's cricket establishment so it isnt for anything but cricketing reasons.
Ganguly this year and one more batsman next year and another the year after is what we should ideally be looking at. I feel that while Sachin is still a batsman fully deserving of his place in the side, he is not enjoying his cricket. He has denied that but it doesn't look like it. His concentration is failing far too often. He is starting well again and again and still falls to an error of judgement. I don't think the Sachin of old would not have seen the slower delivery that got him yesterday. Earlier he would have either seen it early and adjusted the speed of his bat and played late or having seen it late, decided to go through the shot to send it like a rocket to the fielder and probably survive. What he did was uncharacteristic. He saw the slower one, he did see it, and then checked his shot from a drive to a defensive push thereby committing virtual hara-kiri.
There have been other examples recently particularly in Sri Lanka where in at least the first three innings he started off as if Mendis was no issue and playing superbly and yet fell to soft dismissals. What's worse, this seemed to shake him up and in the latter part of the series he did not even start the innings as fluently as he was doing in the earlier part. This is not Sachin Tendulkar.
So my point is that while he is still a very fine batsman, with Dravid and Sehwag, one of the three best Test batsmen in India even today, he is not mentally right there and he will have to give up the ambition of a 100 international centuries which, I suspect is his only motivation today.
But, I repeat, he deserves to be in this side purely as a batsman without any doubt.
Laxman has a different problem. His game is purely based great eyes and great hands and great co-ordination between them. When your game is based on a rock solid technique as with Gavaskar, Dravid and even Sachin, you can go on much longer defying the tell tale signs of age but when it is not, as in the case of Laxman, the end comes quickly. People always wonder why Vishwanath went so quickly in about a season or so. The reasons are similar. I suspect Laxman is losing his special ability. I hope he proves me wrong. The strokes still look beautiful when he makes them but the frequency is far less. Thats why I said he may go before Sachin
Dravid, with his technique and with his very strong mental faculties will last the longest. The only thing that can and will unhinge him is mistreatment. He is ultra-sensitive. Not surprising for someone who gives so much of himself. If there is one cricketer who has given of himself so completely without holding back and without personal considerations, it is Rahul Dravid. India needs to handle him with the respect and sensitivity he deserves. Do that and he will score more runs in the next few years than anyone else, still. He has the game and the temprament to do it.
