Lot of juggling, replacements needed for India to get ideal Test batting order

Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS) Many say that a team needs to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, while batting strength is the bigger reason for success in white-ball cricket.

With the Indian cricket teams in all three formats facing a revamp with seasoned players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami well into their 30s and, the BCCI will need to induct new players in the next couple of years to develop strong sides.

As wholesale changes are not necessary, neither advisable, the selectors have already started testing and experimenting with players to find suitable replacements for these players.

This presents the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with the opportunity to settle for an ideal batting order that would serve the country for many years.

The strength and success of the batting lineup are decided by the sequence in which the batters go out to bat -- which is the batting order.

With so many different strategies to choose from, like the top-down approach, the anchor strategy, the fire-power approach and the defensive approach, depending on the persons available, the opponent's strength and the strategic position of the game.

A team with an ideal batting lineup will always give its bowlers enough runs to defend or easily chase stiff targets. Ideally speaking, no target should be impossible to achieve if an ideal batting order plays to its strength and fulfils its promise.

An ideal batting lineup for a white-ball team should include a strong top-order with attacking batters with good defensive skills and the ability to face the new ball, an anchor player at No. 3, a technically perfect batter following him, probably the best batter in the side leading the middle order with an attacking middle-order batter, a power hitter at No 6, a good wicketkeeper who can adapt to the situation, guide and shield the tail-enders when necessary, a bowling allrounder -- spin or pace depending on the pitch and weather conditions, and the three tailenders.

The roles will change a little bit for red-ball games with the power-hitter and attacking middle-order players being replaced by one or two anchor players depending on the strategy.

The ideal batting lineup in white-ball cricket was the one the country put up for the 50-over World Cup last year -- with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the attacking openers, Virat Kohli playing the anchor's role with Shreyas Iyer, K.L Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja making the middle-order, and Suryakumar Yadav as the attacking middle-order batter or Hardik Pandya (the pace-bowling allrounder), as the the case may be, followed by the tail comprising Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj.

In the context of the red-ball team, India will need to work on achieving an ideal batting order, especially with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli taking breaks and likely to retire in the next few years. It is the situation India faced a year or two back when Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara lost form and were dropped.

Considering that Rohit and Virat will not be available for some series to manage their workload, the Indian selectors need to fill in a few crucial spots in the top order.

Though Rohit Sharma is a right-hander, in an ideal batting order, India needs a left-handed opener who can form a strong partnership with the right-handed Shubman Gill. Yashasvi Jaiswal, currently opening the innings in Tests, and Ishan Kishan seem the best available options for this slot.

To fill up the gap left by Kohli, the selectors should consider either bumping up K.L Rahul or Shreyas Iyer to the No. 3 spot and bolster the middle order by including a technically-equipped batter on the lines of Rahane or Pujara, who can take up the No. 4 spot.

Rishabh Pant's return from accident injury would be a big boost for the team. In such a situation, Rahul could be included based on his batting prowess only.

The ideal batting order should also have a medium-pacer allrounder as he can be one of the two pacers in home conditions, and an extra pace option during tours.

A spinner on the lines of Axar Patel could be fostered as a spinning-allrounder replacement for Ravindra Jadeja.

As it is difficult to get like-for-like replacements, India will need to juggle the batting order to provide it more solidity to get the ideal batting order that would serve the purpose both at home and away.