ICC World Test Championship: Five areas of concern for No. 1 ranked India

#4 Inconsistencies in team selection

Leaving out Wridhiman Saha was a baffling decision

The depth in this Indian Test squad is also quite remarkable. That’s why the cricketing fraternity is always expecting big things whenever Virat Kohli and his men are involved in a high-profile series. Sadly they have not lived up to their billing in important tournaments. The primary reason being the team management and skipper’s extensive focus on playing combinations.

Most of the time, the team selection has been done based on numbers and records. While following such processes, the team has also not thought twice before dropping established players from the playing XI.

It can also be validated from the recent exclusion of first choice Test wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja to include Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin in the first Test against New Zealand. Even after playing consistent cricket for the last year or so, both were dropped owing to their poor outings in the lone practice match.

Saha who has been considered the best wicket-keeper by the team made way for Pant because of his batting superiority. While Jadeja replaced Ashwin in the second Test, it was surprising to see Pant given a second chance only for him not to contribute much as either a wicket-keeper or batsman.

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#5 Over reliance on star players

New Zealand v India - Second Test: Day 2

Barring a couple of prominent series losses the team has done exceedingly well in Virat Kohli’s leadership. Notably, the maiden ODI series win in South Africa and the Test series win in Australia are a couple of golden feathers in the Indian cap.

However, having a close look at their success one can easily point out a disturbing pattern. The team has been enjoying a chain of one-man shows. In simple terms, the individual brilliance of stars like Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rohit has overshadowed the team’s underlying problems.

To be precise the above trio has shared 16 Man of the Match awards among themselves in the last 30 successful games for India across formats. These numbers suggest that India is overtly dependent on their star players. Especially on their tour of New Zealand, they suffered from Bumrah's current lean run of form.

It goes to show how the performance of the best or one of the world's best bowler can do for the team's success. Bumrah looked far from his best in the Test series and the Kiwis were smart enough to capitalize on that and win the series convincingly.