Long ropes for Rahane, Pujara baffling

Transitions in cricket aren’t without their share of conflicting reactions. Just as juxtaposing generations face off in a battle for relevance, the management too is in a quandary for they need to decide which way forward. And then explain themselves to the games’ stakeholders.

The Indian team is built differently though. Besides not concerning themselves with explanations to anyone but a select few within the cult, they aren’t acknowledging the very obvious fact that they are in fact transitioning.

New coach Rahul Dravid briefly touched on it at the press conference but other members of his staff were reticent to refer to this phase as a transition, they would rather believe that they are in pink of their health.

That is true to a degree when you take into account the quality of young talent coming through, but what is the point of all this talent if they aren’t being utilised.

Experience is crucial but experience means little when it doesn’t translate into tangible numbers on the field. Yes, we’re back to talking about Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara.

For over two years, Rahane and Pujara have been dismal, and there’s would have been some validity to giving them the long rope if there wasn’t enough strength on the bench. Obviously, that’s hardly the case anymore.

It took regular skipper Virat Kohli and a bunch of others to rest, and KL Rahul to get injured, for Shreyas Iyer to make his debut in Kanpur. Shubman Gill moved to the favoured opening slot, and suddenly India’s middle-order looked just as vulnerable as it has for the last few years.

The management didn’t anticipate a middle-order vacancy so sent Hanuma Vihari away with the India A side to South Africa. Rahane, the stand-in skipper, needed to deliver. Instead, it was Shreyas who saved them the blushes in both innings.

The trail of Shreyas’ debut is absurd, let alone that he scored a century and a half-century in the match. As bizarre is how KS Bharat got his chance to show off his credentials as a ’keeper. Bharath was called up as a stand-by for Wriddhiman Saha. Saha himself got this game because Rishabh Pant opted out. But on the second morning of the opening Test, Saha suffered from a stiff neck and Bharat was called on, never mind that his dismissals won’t reflect in his stats.

At 28-years-old, Bharat seems a proper option. At 26-years-old, Shreyas can’t be ignored anymore. Vihari can’t be shunned either.

Perhaps, Pujara and Rahane can get back to domestic cricket and build confidence instead of sitting in the rut. Their conscience must prick at times, but with the team rallying around their failures, they are still holding up an array of talented middle-order batters, Suryakumar Yadav included.

In Saha’s case, he is the best ’keeper in the country, vastly better than Pant and slightly more adept than Bharat, but he’s 37 years old and the niggles are only going to become more frequent. Pant, at 24, has time and can build ’keeping acumen through limited-overs cricket, while Bharat is prepared to don the Test role.

All said and done, players can’t be expected to make that call, often they have far too much pride to step aside to make room for the youth. And as athletes, they will continue to say ‘I’m one innings away’.

Meanwhile, the young are getting old. And even if the next generation isn’t as long-format talented as their predecessors, it’s only right that they get the opportunity to learn and evolve. That’s how transitions work. Otherwise, it’s called stagnation.

The second Test at the Wankhede will reveal which side of the future the Indian side wants to be on.