Depleted Lanka not ideal test for India

by Harsha Bhogle

If the objective at the start of the season, one of many but the prime objective nonetheless, was to find the right team to defend the World Cup, then I’m afraid this was the season of littles.

A Test series against a disgruntled West Indies would have told us little and the alternative, a five game ODI series against Sri Lanka will tell only a little bit more. And so it has been a “little” home season without a single Test match and it means India have had a pretty uneventful time which should be unacceptable to fans, networks and administrators alike.

But you must play with what you have and so India must seek to learn as much as possible from five games against Sri Lanka. The conditions here will be very different from those that will await them in Australia and New Zealand.

As a sampler, Australia have picked a team to play South Africa at Perth without a single spinner. India play two games at Perth and even though I suspect the tracks will have been equalised a bit, and India will have been in Australia for two and a half months by then, it gives you an indicator of how different it will be from Cuttack and Kolkata.

Unless there is something dramatic in the air, or in the surface, India will almost certainly play two spinners at the World Cup. Quite apart from that being a strength, those are the only two bowlers who bat! I am not completely certain India will take three spinners to the World Cup but if they do that is one slot they will seek to learn a bit more about. Akshar Patel is being seen as an all-rounder but Kuldeep Yadav showed he could bat in the Duleep Trophy semi-final too.

Hopefully with big grounds in Australia (but definitely not in New Zealand!), a leg spinner might get some support too but India must make up their minds quickly about Amit Mishra.

He knows a thing or two about the bench having inhabited it for long but keeping him there helps nobody.

Everyone wants to see Shikhar Dhawan score a few runs and while he got a half century against the West Indies, it wasn’t the kind of innings he can play. Runs are admittedly a big source of confidence but he will be aware he needs to do much more.

Interestingly the debate about the opener’s slot has been confined to whether to play Ajinkya Rahane or Rohit Sharma (it is a good sign that both want to play there!) but if Dhawan doesn’t play at least one dominating innings in this series the scope of that debate may get widened.

As things stand, there are only fifteen who can be picked and there isn’t room for too many spare batsmen.