India's next generation primed and ready
India's young batsmen have worked for their places in the Test line-up, continue to keep their focus, and have done well enough to breed confidence going into the tough overseas tours that the team has lined up, says Aditya Iyer in the Indian Express
ESPNcricinfo staff
10-Nov-2013
India's young batsmen have worked for their places in the Test line-up, continue to keep their focus, and have done well enough to breed confidence going into the tough overseas tours that the team has lined up, says Aditya Iyer in the Indian Express.
Name for name and slot by slot, the greats have all but been replaced. Yes, most of these replacements have only played at home and yes, the following three Test series (all abroad, in South Africa, New Zealand and England) will be a tougher ball game. But Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma have shown enough mettle to clear the forthcoming hurdles. If this theory seems either premature or far-fetched, then kindly peep into the scorecards from India's longest-ever win streak -- the last five Test matches. Never before had India won five Tests in a row. And when it was done (over the four-Test series against Australia earlier this year and the Kolkata win over the West Indies), it was largely achieved without the aid of the remaining veterans, Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.