As rallying cries for the onset of a turnaround go, the Sri Lanka series, which starts tomorrow, will take the cake. The home Test series whitewash against South Africa last winter was a line-in-the-sand moment. This is an Indian team that has promised to shed the remnants of the year gone by, going into the first Test of the two-match series revelling in quality preparation time.
The small matter of fitting in a new No. 3 is still there. Devdutt Padikkal would be the latest inductee to that spot, blame it on Sai Sudharsan’s injury. For different reasons, India will have three different No. 3s, Washington Sundar, Sai and Padikkal, in four Tests. Stability, or rather the lack of it, has been a problem with the Test team and it proved to be India’s bugbear.
This team, with Gautam Gambhir as its head coach, is big on having bowlers down the order who can bat as well. It has made Kuldeep Yadav the fall guy across formats.
Rewind to the five-Test series in England last year, where the left-arm wrist-spinner didn’t get a game. Jump to the ODI series in England in July this year, and once again Kuldeep had to sit out.
It’s Test cricket time, and we can put the shorter formats on the back burner for the moment. Make no mistake, Kuldeep will play the first Test against Sri Lanka. But at the pre-match press conference here in Galle on Friday, Shubman Gill was asked a pertinent question, when batsmen aren’t expected to bowl and take wickets, will it be proper to put pressure on the bowlers to contribute with the bat as well? So why not play specialists, for 20 wickets need to be taken to win a Test?
The skipper tried to put things in perspective. “In Tests, a batsman is asked to bowl only when the opponents have scored 400-500 runs,” he said. “But if a bowler can chip in with the bat at No. 8, 9 or even at No. 10, especially in the first innings, it augurs well for the team.”
To be fair to the team management, they are still struggling to fill a Virat Kohli-sized hole in the batting line-up. They are actually trying to make it up with two players, one at No. 3 and another at No. 8, a utility all-rounder.
Interestingly, in Galle, India will not have a second all-rounder alongside Ravindra Jadeja. Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy have been rendered hors de combat and it could be a challenge to strike the right balance. Gill put his faith in Manav Suthar.
“I think that’s where someone like Manav comes into play,” he said. “He’s got the ability with the bat. You need a bit of experience, you need some belief and confidence and that will only come once you’re out there, you’re playing, you score some runs and hopefully he does that in this series. He is someone with a great skill with bowling and he’s got the potential to be able to be a really good No. 8 batsman as well.”
So, the stage is set. A milestone beckons, as India will play their 600th Test in Galle. Picking the playing XI is almost an open-and-shut case. Just that Gurnoor Brar or Prasidh Krishna remains a close call.
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