Whilst his comments may seem painful, Sanjay has hit the nail on the head. What will happen when the big guns all retire possibly within a year of each other? The heart will have been ripped out of India's batting. Painful as it may be right now, but the big guns will have to be 'retired' over the next two-three years slowly and in a way that the team will not suffer. Nobody wants to see them scratching averages of 25-30 as overseas pitches become faster and their responses slightly slower. I accept Sachin was the best batsmen at the Boxing Day test (from the Indians), however how much longer will India continue relying on him.

I also believe that the presence of the big guns is putting a strange kind of pressure on the young guns.

Mr. Manjrekar's analysis is flawed, here is why: 1. He says what a captain do when batsmen don't put up 300. Look at Clarke what he did! Ind lost because Dhoni's negative tactics allowed Aus to get past 300! 2. Batting problem is with no.1,6,7 and these happens to be the youngest as compared to our no.2,3,4,5 who despite ageing are doing Ok. 3. Manjrekar talks about serious changes if India loses at SCG. Any thoughts about those changes? Will you replace Sachin, Dravid and laxman with Rahane, Rohit and Saha? Talking about batting, Mr. Manjrekar must be reminded that Ponting, Hussey and Clarke have played so many tests in Aus but still struggled at MCG. Take any team in world like Pak or SL..all struggle in 1st test. At the end of series we shall revisit this 'expert' analysis by Mr. Manjrekar!

completely wrong analysis..sachin never looked uncomfortable against aussie pacers and was the highest scorer in both innings from india ,dravid somehow mamaged to score runs ,except them everyone failed ...if sachin and dravid were not there ,india would have faced an innings defeat...if the three ageing batsmen will retire in the same time ,india will not reach 200 against bangladesh in tests...the problem was the poor captaincy ,failure of openers(specially Gambhir),and an inconsistent 6 th no batsmen after ganguly retires ..also dhoni's batting. so pls analyse in a correct manner

Some points of disagreement * There are points in the test match where a captain has to take the initiative then and there. Dhoni routinely misses them and that is a big concern. * The top order is by no means young and one day or the other will be well past their prime. What is really shocking is the lack of capable batsman at #6, #7 for India. Dhoni is technically inadequate which he makes up by grit at times and usually at home. But the Kohlis, Yuvrajs, Rainas have just not delivered. If they are best of the youth India has, we are in for a huge decline in our test standing once the fab four fade from active cricket. * I found Ishanth very impressive with his fitness and form. He was unlucky not to be among wickets but for someone who was supposed to be injured etc. he did very well. * Ashwin to me was a mild disappointment as a spinner. He is expected to trouble the tail and I didnt think he did well enough to be seen as India's spin spearhead.

I dont agree with you Sanjay that aging batsmen are finding difficulty handling bowling ..If you look at the 5 test matches ...Dravid is in Sublime form ...Tendulkar looked the best batsmen from either side in the match..Laxman was OK in England but just failed here(a rare failure from him u can say)...but Ganbhir,Kohli and Dhoni were the main culprits...Even Sehwag u can say but in England he was not fit so may be we can leave him for now..So its the lower middle order and opening stand which has left us in peril..and instead of going after the aging batsmen its time younger ones get their act together