The Surfer

Time for India to move forward

While Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman still earn their places in the team on merit, at some stage India needs to look to the future, Gaurav Kalra says on cricketnext.com

Dustin Silgardo

While Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman still earn their places in the team on merit, at some stage India needs to look to the future, Gaurav Kalra says on cricketnext.com. If their spots are considered permanently occupied, anyone who comes in to the No. 6 position is always going to bat like it his last Test, he says.

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At the heart of Indian cricket's predicament lies an emotional response to a practical problem. Succession plans are ruthless in their design and do not rest on the current ability of the men who are sought to be replaced. Of-course Tendulkar is still the best man for number four. Undoubtedly there aren't any batsmen more suited to bat at three and five than Dravid and Laxman. But must the immediacy of a task be the over-riding concern at all times? Must the desire to let them choose a "grand exit" over-ride the shape and form this cricket team takes in the future?

India tour of Australia

Dustin Silgardo is a former sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo