Haren
This isn’t a wake-up call. Nor this is a freak, one-off series where India got the worst of the conditions. A 0-3 whitewash at home for the first time in its history was a sign of things to come for India. The signs were coming over the last two home seasons where unheralded spinners had Indian batsmen wanting in their own conditions. Having lost only two Test matches from 2013 to 2020, they had lost three between 2021 to 2024 when Bangladesh and New Zealand were lined up for their home season.
It would have been a good time for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to go back to the domestic fold when Duleep Trophy fixtures were out. Rohit hasn’t played a Ranji Trophy fixture since 2015. Kohli has not played since 2012. Playing Duleep Trophy would have been an ideal preparation. But they chose a break.
And it isn’t a mere coincidence that Rohit and Kohli endured a season to forget, averaging 13.3 and 19.2 in 10 innings against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Their struggles in the middle on a turning track, sans adequate preparation and just banking on past experience to bail them out was quite telling.
The home conditions seemed alien to them, as if the characteristics of the pitches came out of syllabus. It was never the case with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who kept going back to domestic cricket whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The only solace for India is, it wasn’t a systematic failure. One can’t fault the planning, at least from the selectors.
It was keeping their struggles in mind that the selectors wanted all the Test regulars to feature in the Duleep Trophy. That there was no international cricket at that time presented the Test stars a rare opportunity to play domestic red ball cricket and prepare for the long Test season ahead. With top names having reservation to travel to Anantapur – the host city for Duleep Trophy – the BCCI even moved one of the matches to Bengaluru so that commuting is made easy. And despite serving it on platter, Rohit, Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin – all skipped the series. Fatigue was cited as a reason. But as has always been the case, it is never an issue when IPL comes calling. Like Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins, we are yet to see an Indian player taking a break from IPL because of fatigue.
So before the 5 home Tests, they believed a short camp in Chennai would suffice. Even there, out of the four days, one happened to be an off-day. Given how even Tamil Nadu’s spinners made them struggle, it should have made them think twice before opting for turning pitches.
It wasn’t because they were ageing or they are in the middle of a transition. It happened because they were least prepared for what was to come. And they paid the price for it.
