India’s remarkable progress in Test cricket hindered by their reluctance to back youth

The last few years will always be cherished by the Indian fans for the Men in Blues' remarkable progress in Test cricket.    

India have conquered Australia twice, fought neck-to-neck against England and South Africa in their own backyard and established themselves as an invincible side at home. These facts speak volumes about India's commendable run in the traditional format of the game. 

But has the Indian team achieved everything that it is capable of? The answer is debatable.

Despite being an incredible Test side, India couldn't put up a fight against New Zealand in the first WTC final. They also lost countless overseas Tests despite having the upper hand in the majority of them. 

The primary reason behind this underachievement of the Indian Test team is the abysmal performance of their top order. India's top order has always turned out to be their nemesis in deciding encounters, as their established batters have mostly faltered in demanding situations.  

So, what is the problem? 

Although India have finally settled on a solid opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, their availability continues to be an issue for the think-tank. While Rohit, unfortunately, missed the Edgbaston Test owing to Covid-19, Rahul was ruled out of the entire tour because of a sports hernia he sustained during the home series against South Africa. 

But do India have equally good backup openers? 

The answer is they have some fine domestic openers, but they haven't given them enough opportunities to establish their feet in international cricket. 

For instance, India drafted the experienced domestic opener, Priyank Panchal, into their squad for the South Africa tour but didn't give him a single chance in the playing XI despite the repeated failures of Mayank Agarwal. Instead, they dropped Panchal for no concrete reason and recalled Agarwal for the Edgbaston Test, a backward step in the team-building process. 

This approach indicates that the Indian think-tank lacks a proper plan to prepare its backup openers for emergencies.    

The performances of the two stalwarts, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, have also been sub-standard, averaging around 27 since the start of 2020. But the Indian management have always had a conservative approach when it comes to replacing the established names. 

While they haven't started looking past Pujara and Kohli yet, they took plenty of time to drop Ajinkya Rahane, who was highly inconsistent during the second half of his career. Unfortunately, this hesitation in approach has cost India quite a few Test series, the most recent one being South Africa. 

More importantly, it has left youngsters like Shreyas Iyer underprepared for overseas tours and shut the door for many prolific youngsters, including Sarfaraz Khan, for the time being. 

If India continue to develop their bench strength at such a sloth-paced rate, they will suffer in the upcoming overseas Test series, just like they did in 2011-12. Therefore, all they need is to give enough international cricket exposure to their promising domestic players in home Tests. It will certainly instil the confidence in them, which they need to succeed in the SENA Tests.