Indian cricket's golden generation
Ten years have passed since the epochal Kolkata Test, but little has changed when India clash with Australia - VVS Laxman is still at it, as have Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble been at various points in India's decade of excellence in
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
Ten years have passed since the epochal Kolkata Test, but little has changed when India clash with Australia - VVS Laxman is still at it, as have Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble been at various points in India's decade of excellence in Test cricket. In the Indian Express, Mihir Sharma relives Laxman's classic, and says why the next line of Indian cricketers are unlikely to replicate the feats of the golden generation.
This series has just one more Test, which Ponting has said, with glum humour, he hopes Laxman’s back keeps him out of. That’s half the problem. You’re never really tested except in Tests. Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman: they were all Test players first. The next generation, not so much; even if some of them, like Sehwag and Gambhir, have talent that bends the format around them. If we want steel of VVS’ calibre, we need to temper it, to test it. And that needs more Tests, on supportive pitches. After Mohali’s single-wicket win, who wouldn’t want more?
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo