I agree with the drift of your post and the point you are trying to make. A minor point is that Kumble is not a regular member of the Indian ODI team, hasnt been for almost two years now and is unlikely to be in the future.
I think Pakistan has plenty of youngsters and they have been blooded too. But by and large these hugely talented youngsters from the amazingly vast and unending reservoir of fresh talent in Pakistan seem to lack maturity a bit more than the Indian youngsters - not talent.
One can only try to speculate on the reasons for the same.
- One could be the lack of a well structrured domestic first class circuit in Pakistan. In India the Ranji Trophy (both limited and one day version), the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy etc for seniors, Rohinton Baria Trophy for schools, the college version escapes my tongue just now, Deodhar Trophy for limited overs, the various junior age groups, and the local leagues make for a vast network through which one needs to graduate and competition is tough with good performances galore. I think Indian juniors though not more talented than their Pakistani counterparts, tend to be a bit more sobered by their way up and it shows.
- I also feel the Indian setup, rightly or wrongly, does not push a young debutant into a position of major responsibility till he has served a kind of an apprenticeship during which he matures. Kaif and Yuvraj are examples from recent crops but even the prodigiously talented Sachin Tendulkar was nurtured and batted at number six and seven in tests for 25 months (November 1989 to December 1991) before finally being promoted to number four. The seniors, some of them not fit enough to hold a candle to him took on the responsibility. I can understand that you cant do this with openers but where you can you must.
- In the opening slot India has by and large supported a technically proficient and strong backfoot player. Sehwag is a bit different but even he is fairly strong off the backfoot but yet he is an exception. Thus even though India have struggled with openers they have continued to look for solidity (I am talking tests here) at the top slots and thus we have the Chopras, the Das's, the Bangars of recent times and the feeling that you need to be a Dravid to be a makeshift opener.
The point here is not how successful these openers were (I have admitted that India have struggled to find them) but the approach towards opening the innings. Pakistan seems to favour the beautiful front foot players who love moving the left leg out and driving handsomely through the covers. Almost all the youngsters one has seen in last 3-4 years have looked great driving off the front foot particularly through the off side. They seem to be all made in the same mould and coached by the same guy ! But you hardly see any one who is predominantly a backfoot player and will go back to defend if he cant go forward to drive a half volley. Again this is a tendency and I know there may be exceptions.
You combine all these and you have the recipe, not for disaster but for an inconsistent batting performance - swaying between incandescent strokeplay when the going is good and utterly inept performance in a crisis.
This is Pakistans problem with batting today and this is where Woolmer and Inzy's batting order strategies have made matters worse.
