It’s time for BCCI to take some drastic measures after the third Test

The Indian batting performance has been down and out in the past two Test matches against England. At least, Virat Kohli’s sensational batting performance in the first Test came as a saving grace to reduce the margin of defeat.

When he failed at the Lord’s with other batsmen, the fragility of Indian batting line-up was well exposed. With India’s worst-ever defeat at the Lord’s, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli lost his #1 position in the ICC rankings of top Test batsmen.

In the second Test, the Indian batting resistance could only last for a mere 82 overs across both the innings. This was one of the low points of the match as it gave an impression that Indians went down without a fightback.

It was heart-breaking, as opined by many former players. When a lower middle order batsman like R Ashwin emerges as the top scorer in both innings with scores of 29 and 33, it gives a clear impression that the top order Indian batsmen are not applying themselves to play in seaming conditions.

Leaving the failure of the top order batsmen aside, Virat Kohli should be held accountable for his misjudgment in playing two spinners at the Lord’s test. R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav failed to take a single wicket in the England innings, while pacemen Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya ended up bowling extended spells.

It won’t come as a surprise if any of these three bowlers make it to the injured list of players before the third test at Trent Bridge.

The odds on India winning the third Test match at Trent Bridge is bleak. Seeing the current situation, it won’t be unfair to say that England is favorites to win the third test, probably once again within a span of four days.

Last time when India toured England in 2014, the groundsmen prepared a lifeless wicket which saw both India and England batting for first fo days in their first innings. The match eventually ended in a tame draw. However, ICC reprimanded the Trent Bridge committee for preparing a Test wicket that was ‘far from ideal.’ As otherwise, Trent Bridge as a venue for Test cricket yielded results in most matches.

While India can certainly expect a better batting wicket at the Trent Bridge, the threat from England spearheads is going to be more than ever before. Over the years, James Anderson and Stuart Broad have performed exceptionally well at Trent Bridge and Indians need to find a proper game-plan to play these two seamers.

Anderson’s overall tally of Test wickets at the Trent Bridge stands at 60, while Broad’s career-best haul of 8 wickets for 15 runs came against Australia in 2015.

Ever since Virat Kohli has taken the reins of test captaincy, he has tried too many permutations and combinations in the Test squad. Ajinkya Rahane cannot be termed as a Test regular after his omission in South Africa but is regarded as the vice-captain when he is in the playing eleven.

Likewise, Cheteshwar Pujara who is considered to be a test regular was rested in the first test against England but returned to play at the Lord’s. Despite repeated failures, Shikhar Dhawan was lucky to get an extended run in playing most of the overseas tours, while Murali Vijay only gives an impression of a home-grown hero scoring heavily on the flat wickets of India.

It’s time for BCCI to take some drastic measures in rebuilding a new test squad for the future. Skipper Virat Kohli and Coach Ravi Shastri are likely to face a lot of grilling from BCCI if India loses the third test at Trent Bridge. Given the quality of game exhibited by the Indian players, the outcome of the match is more likely to tick in England’s favor.

Is it time to look out for a new captain for the longer format of the game? Is too much experimentation with new players doing any good to the test squad? What is keeping Prithvi Shaw and Karun Nair out of the side?

A captain of the side is permitted to have a part in choosing a coach or players of his choice but if personal choices are not yielding any results or answers to such questions, then it’s certainly time for a change.