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India's Top Order Struggle: No Batter Averaging Over 50 In Test Cricket In The Last Five Years

Virat Kohli and Shubman Gil [X]Virat Kohli and Shubman Gil [X]

The Indian top order faced a tough challenge in the first session of the IND vs BAN 1st Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After Bangladesh won the toss and put the home team to bat on a spicy wicket, the Indian batters struggled to get off the blocks. 

Hasan Mahmud appeared as the destructor in chief. He picked up the first three wickets and had India reeling at 34/3 by the 10th over. Bangladesh had India on the floor for nearly half of the day. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja's repair job incidentally saved India from an embarrassing display. 

This has not been a one-off incident for India in recent times. We have probably witnessed the Indian top order fall cheaply in Test cricket several times now. The fact that India still remains a force to reckon with in this format might be attributed to the resilience of the middle and lower-order batters and also to a very effective bowling attack. 

What does the stats say? Is the Indian top-order not performing upto the mark in the last few years?

Rohit Sharma: The Sole Bright Spot in India's Top Order

Player
Matches
Innings
Runs
Average
Rohit Sharma33552,55849.19
Rishabh Pant26431,77345.46
Ravindra Jadeja33471,71844.05
Mayank Agarwal20341,37040.29
Virat Kohli38622,26438.37
Shubman Gill26471,49234.69
Ajinkya Rahane30
501,60734.19
Cheteshwar Pujara36631,96232.70
KL Rahul183298330.71
Ravichandran Ashwin36491,05023.33

Table - Top 10 Indian batters in terms of average in Test cricket [minimum 15 matches] 

The first and most concerning thing in this table is that no Indian batters have averaged over 50 in Test cricket in the last five years.

The second most important thing is that Rohit Sharma is the only batter from the top four of the batting line-up within the top three of the list (when average is considered). 

Players like Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara, who are in the top 10 on this list, are no longer a part of the Indian main scheme. 

Addressing India's Top Order Woes for Future Success

These stats point to some concerning problems with the Indian top order. The fact that the top three or four batters fail to display top-quality performances frequently is probably one of the main reasons that, despite making it to the final of the WTC twice, India have not won it so far. 

While a big positive is that Indian batting's real strength lies in the middle order, India needs its top-order batters to step up more frequently. A new era of Indian cricket has dawned with Gautam Gambhir taking the job of the Head Coach. If India aims to be the side that dominates the cricketing scenario in the coming decade, then they need to sort out their top-order problems as quickly as possible.