Is the Indian Test batting as good as the hype suggests?

[Firebat]

In a Test side full of massive names - Kohli, Sharma, Pujara, Pant, Rahul and so on - there seem to be a few more holes beneath the surface.

They are carrying 2 passengers in Rahane and Pujara, they've got a few entertaining but inconsistent players, a non-existent tail and the main star Kohli hasn't scored a century in 2 years.

When all those factors combine in a perfect storm, you get a few alarming collapses, 2 major ones in the last year. They generally seem quite clueless batting in seaming, swinging conditions, and they folded twice meekly in the WTC final.

No doubt this is a very good Test team, top 2 in the world, but are they more reliant on the bowling than the big-name batters?

 

[Itachi]

Where is the hype?

Everyone here criticizes the middle order. Only the openers and lower orders were saving the team. It was a time bomb waiting to explode which at least everyone here knew.

 

[street cricketer]

Where is the hype..

Every Indian fan criticises the Indian batting the most.

 

[MP2011]

Hyped only for those who don't know the real worth of this batting lineup. Those who know the real aukaat of this batting lineup won't ever call it hyped.

 

[Varun]

We hurtle from heaven to hell with this lot.

Pujara and Rahane are demons marketed to be angels.

Pant is Lucifer.

 

[OMB]

Yes it is hyped up.

The team fighting spirit and bowling is definitely very good and not hyped up but everyone knows our batting is declining with the likes of Rahane Pujara and now Kohli also failing regularly.

Fault is with our middling order bats as our
Top order does shine sometimes and tailenders can’t be faulted for batting collapse. They have already done their quote of batting in this series

 

[OMB]

We hurtle from heaven to hell with this lot.

Pujara and Rahane are demons marketed to be angels.

Pant is Lucifer.

Reminds me of a Terry pratchett book

 

[silentkiller187]

When they play at home they get hyped, then they get found out away , cycle.

 

[Firebat]

Where is the hype..

Every Indian fan criticises the Indian batting the most.

I'm not necessarily talking about all the Indians here on PP, but what I generally see and hear from commentators, social media and people I interact with. These batsmen are massive and generally revered names.

You don't think players like Kohli, King Legend Rahul, Hitman Rohit, Pant, The Wall Pujara are hyped to the moon and back?

 

[street cricketer]

I'm not necessarily talking about all the Indians here on PP, but what I generally see and hear from commentators, social media and people I interact with. These batsmen are massive and generally revered names.

You don't think players like Kohli, King Legend Rahul, Hitman Rohit, Pant, The Wall Pujara are hyped to the moon and back?

To be fair, Rohit and Rahul have batted extraordinarily in almost always in testing conditions this series as openers. Kohli, Pujara and Rahane have been done for sometime now and they should be ideally replaced but won't happen because seniority culture exists in India. Our batsmen usually retire around 37 or 38 even if they have been over the hill for years.

 

[mastimasti]

Where is the hype..

Every Indian fan criticises the Indian batting the most.

But there is certainly hype in the media. The entire build on Sky was about how great the Indian batting is against the greatness of England's Jimmy and Broad. Certainly hype.

Yet, even when India had, imo, the best batting line up of all time, we barely won in England.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

The won the test series in Australia, they will win the series against England too. One bad outing can't rule them out.

 

[MP2011]

Yet, even when India had, imo, the best batting line up of all time, we barely won in England.

That's because we never had bowlers to take 20 wickets in a test. When we had, we won the 2007 series.

Tests are won by bowlers (mostly), batsmen save them (mostly).

 

[street cricketer]

But there is certainly hype in the media. The entire build on Sky was about how great the Indian batting is against the greatness of England's Jimmy and Broad. Certainly hype.

Yet, even when India had, imo, the best batting line up of all time, we barely won in England.

The Sky thing is to hype the series up to get more eye balls in. Fox do the same when we visit Australia.

Winning in other countries is supposed to be a difficult job and not a walk in the park. Even when that all conquering Australian team finally won in India after failing before, a lot of things had to go right for them to win the series - rain washing out the last day in Chennai when India were in a good position, Tendulkar and Ganguly missing a few tests, Ganguly having a bust up with the pitch curator resulting in the curator serving up a green wicket for the Aussies at Nagpur, etc.

 

[sabre1486]

man....this indian team has stones though. they bounce back really well...they did against aus as well.

but, then again, if we just talk about batting.....back in the day sachin, dravid, ganguly, laxman, sehwag....

in the current team only kohli would possibly break into that gang.....i do think pujara maybe, but rahane and the openers are inferior to the older greats...

 

[sam_ahm]

There is no hype. Most of us have been saying that India's middle order is a big weak link. In fact I said India is not as strong but other teams are weak which is why we are winning tests abroad more often.

 

[sam_ahm]

I'm not necessarily talking about all the Indians here on PP, but what I generally see and hear from commentators, social media and people I interact with. These batsmen are massive and generally revered names.

You don't think players like Kohli, King Legend Rahul, Hitman Rohit, Pant, The Wall Pujara are hyped to the moon and back?

These experts and media people do it to get more attention and viewership. Most fans are normal cricket viewers who don't understand the game much, just watch it when India plays and believe whatever is dished out to them.

 

[street cricketer]

There is no hype. Most of us have been saying that India's middle order is a big weak link. In fact I said India is not as strong but other teams are weak which is why we are winning tests abroad more often.

You could say the same for the English team that won in India and Australia. India had a team of players who were long past their sell by date when they lost to England in 2012 and Aus were in one of their weakest phases ever when they lost the Ashes in 2010.

 

[sam_ahm]

You could say the same for the English team that won in India and Australia. India had a team of players who were long past their sell by date when they lost to England in 2012 and Aus were in one of their weakest phases ever when they lost the Ashes in 2010.

Mate why would I call an English team comprising of Cook, Peterson, Trott, Bell, Anderson, Broad, Swann and Panesar a weak team?

That 2012 series was won more on the brilliance of Cook, Peterson, Swann and most importantly Monty Panesar.

 

[street cricketer]

Mate why would I call an English team comprising of Cook, Peterson, Trott, Bell, Anderson, Broad, Swann and Panesar a weak team?

That 2012 series was won more on the brilliance of Cook, Peterson, Swann and most importantly Monty Panesar.

No, you said India win tests abroad only because the opposition is weaker. You could say the same for that English team, that they only won in Australia and India because their opposition were in their weak phases.

Fact is, it's hard to beat strong teams in their own homes. Even the great Australian side failed to beat India, Sri Lanka and England when they were strong. They did beat them afterwards but the point is it's very hard to beat a team in its own home when it's strong too, because if it was strong, it wouldn't drop tests at home.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

These days indian fans only hype indian bowling + Rishabh Pant.

 

[Saj]

I think some of the stuff I was reading from a few in the media after the 1st Test of this series was cringeworthy.

They were making this Indian batting line-up sound like Viv Richards and co.

 

[Manunited18]

Not a traditional strong Indian batting line up this.

 

[Ab Fan]

In tests, it is not a great batting and neither we have enough backups.

The hype is in LOIs, especially T20s, we have got solid backups like SKY, Shaw, Shreyas and Kishan. Doubt there is enough hype for our Test batting.

 

[Rana]

Only Mamoon is the hype

And Indian fans don’t help by not intervening when he is going overboard with his praise for them

 

[Joseph Gomes]

What hype? I have not seen anybody praise Indian batting in years. Even last year people were saying Rahane, Pujara and Kohli are finished.

 

[PakLFC]

It is as good as any other. Better then Pak's no doubt about it but there are many line up's that score much heavier. You know how biased Indian fans are.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

It is as good as any other. Better then Pak's no doubt about it but there are many line up's that score much heavier. You know how biased Indian fans are.

Indian fans on Pakpassion never praise India's batting though. Even Kohli is routinely mocked and ridiculed even by Indian fans.

 

[PakLFC]

Indian fans on Pakpassion never praise India's batting though. Even Kohli is routinely mocked and ridiculed even by Indian fans.

That is cause they know they will be mocked here. In reality on their own forums they think they are just awesome at everything. You know how Shami's comments have been attacked here.

 

[adzzy786]

Hyped or no hype I’d take the Indian batting line up over Pakistan’s batting line up. Our tail starts at number 4 in ODI’s and T20’s.

In tests we have 2 batsmen the rest are practically tail Enders

 

[Joseph Gomes]

That is cause they know they will be mocked here. In reality on their own forums they think they are just awesome at everything. You know how Shami's comments have been attacked here.

I use reddit and nobody ever praises Indian batting in r/cricket. Pujara, Rahane, R Sharma, Rahul all have been trolled mercilessly for years over there, primarily by Indian posters themselves. I don't use FB and Twitter which have the lowest common denominator.

 

[pillionrider]

There is hype only among some keyboard warriors. There are some superstars in it (when you add Gill and potentially Shaw too), but it's looking more like they will never ever fire collectively.

They are carrying 2 passengers in Rahane and Pujara...

These two bailed us out in the last game but it all got drowned out by the 60 over demolition job and overall drama during the 3rd and 4th innings.

 

[PakLFC]

I use reddit and nobody ever praises Indian batting in r/cricket. Pujara, Rahane, R Sharma, Rahul all have been trolled mercilessly for years over there, primarily by Indian posters themselves. I don't use FB and Twitter which have the lowest common denominator.

If you visit Indian Cricket forums you will see Indian's with very low IQ's exaggerating their self importance. In Cricket they feel the other team just has to turn up to be defeated so great is their team India. This narcissistic personality disorder among most Indian fans does them no favours when they get beaten up, it does not win them any mutual fans either. You better be careful before these people turn on you for being a Pakistani supporter.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

If you visit Indian Cricket forums you will see Indian's with very low IQ's exaggerating their self importance. In Cricket they feel the other team just has to turn up to be defeated so great is their team India. This narcissistic personality disorder among most Indian fans does them no favours when they get beaten up, it does not win them any mutual fans either. You better be careful before these people turn on you for being a Pakistani supporter.

I agree with all of the above.

 

[OMB]

I agree with all of the above.

Lol yeah. I stay away from Indian cricket forums for exactly those reasons. Haven’t been there in years now.
Since we all agree on that, I would not equate Indian fans on PP with those trollers on some of those forums.

 

[street cricketer]

If you visit Indian Cricket forums you will see Indian's with very low IQ's exaggerating their self importance. In Cricket they feel the other team just has to turn up to be defeated so great is their team India. This narcissistic personality disorder among most Indian fans does them no favours when they get beaten up, it does not win them any mutual fans either. You better be careful before these people turn on you for being a Pakistani supporter.

I don't know what Indian forum you're visiting, but I only know one Indian cricket forum and Indian batsmen like Kohli, Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, etc., get called names that would be prohibited in this forum for being crude and disrespectful to the players.

Maybe you're talking about facebook fans and it's been years since I last used facebook but the fan boys in facebook and twitter barely understand the game anyway. The trio of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane are unanimously hated in Indian cricket forums. In fact, the one thing that differentiates Indian and Pakistani fans on internet cricket forums which I have observed over the years is that Indian fans are far more ruthless on their own players after a bad day while Pakistani fans are very ruthless on their batting, bowling and fielding coaches after every bad day and generally handle their players with velvet gloves.

 

[OMB]

I don't know what Indian forum you're visiting, but I only know one Indian cricket forum and Indian batsmen like Kohli, Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, etc., get called names that would be prohibited in this forum for being crude and disrespectful to the players.

Maybe you're talking about facebook fans and it's been years since I last used facebook but the fan boys in facebook and twitter barely understand the game anyway. The trio of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane are unanimously hated in Indian cricket forums. In fact, the one thing that differentiates Indian and Pakistani fans on internet cricket forums which I have observed over the years is that Indian fans are far more ruthless on their own players after a bad day while Pakistani fans are very ruthless on their batting, bowling and fielding coaches after every bad day and generally handle their players with velvet gloves.

That is because Pakistani coaches are really poor. Indian coaches as well as cricket setup is at optimums and hence it is down to players now.

 

[street cricketer]

That is because Pakistani coaches are really poor. Indian coaches as well as cricket setup is at optimums and hence it is down to players now.

The role of a cricket coach at professional level is glorified. You cannot coach techniques to a professional cricket player, you can at best help the batsman to make minor changes but cannot change the technique drastically. The most important cricket coaches are actually those at junior level who coach tight defense, playing straight with high elbow and things like that to young kids. You can't teach that to a 28 year old batsman.

The role of a coach at professional level is to create tactics and strategies to counter the opposition team, like Shastri did with bowling straight to the Aus batsmen in Australia. He also has to be a good man manager and create a cohesive team bonding and not disturb the team morale, as Australian cricketers are finding with Justin Langer now. Basically he has to be a cheerleader and make players believe in themselves so that they don't get mentally defeated after a bad day, of which Shastri is doing a reasonable job even though we like to make fun of him. The buck ultimately stops with the players who have to make the decisions on the field. You can do endless coaching but it won't make a difference if players make silly mistakes on the field time and again.

 

[PakLFC]

I don't know what Indian forum you're visiting, but I only know one Indian cricket forum and Indian batsmen like Kohli, Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, etc., get called names that would be prohibited in this forum for being crude and disrespectful to the players.

Maybe you're talking about facebook fans and it's been years since I last used facebook but the fan boys in facebook and twitter barely understand the game anyway. The trio of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane are unanimously hated in Indian cricket forums. In fact, the one thing that differentiates Indian and Pakistani fans on internet cricket forums which I have observed over the years is that Indian fans are far more ruthless on their own players after a bad day while Pakistani fans are very ruthless on their batting, bowling and fielding coaches after every bad day and generally handle their players with velvet gloves.

The most popular Indian forum where people abuse each other more then have a mature discussion. You say so yourself that moderators on that forum are happy to allow abuse go unpunished. I do not hate Indian fans or players but a bit of humbleness would be nice. This rubbish of being the best attack of all time only makes mutual fans dislike India.

Pak fans have every right to attack our batsmen when we struggle to get past 200 most of the time. I am top of the list when it comes to criticizing Pak batsmen. There is a reason we we are so poorly ranked n tests.

 

[James]

I remember when India did actually have genuinely great batters who would walk out in succession. Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Dhoni etc is beyond a dream lineup.

Back then the Indian team’s batting prowess was widely acknowledged, whereas conversely the bowling and fielding was regularly the target of insults and ridicule: trundling seam bowlers, no lateral movement, apparently Kumble can’t spin it & Harby is an alleged chucker so they both rely on umpire bias; lazy out-cricket, unfit, can’t catch, can’t run, etc. Underlining all this was a suspicion that India was a team of individuals.

Things have changed dramatically since then. Now the bowling is world class and the fielding is much improved. Also the team spirit is genuine and very strong. There is no ridicule and there are no insults — where these used to be found, now there is only respect.

But the batting, unfortunately, appears to be slowly sliding down the latrines. And there can only be so many collapses before a degree of permanent reputational loss begins to be suffered.

 

[MenInG]

Major failure in the 3rd Test and now work to do for next 2 games.

 

[OmarKhan99]

I remember when India did actually have genuinely great batters who would walk out in succession. Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Dhoni etc is beyond a dream lineup.

Back then the Indian team’s batting prowess was widely acknowledged, whereas conversely the bowling and fielding was regularly the target of insults and ridicule: trundling seam bowlers, no lateral movement, apparently Kumble can’t spin it & Harby is an alleged chucker so they both rely on umpire bias; lazy out-cricket, unfit, can’t catch, can’t run, etc. Underlining all this was a suspicion that India was a team of individuals.

Things have changed dramatically since then. Now the bowling is world class and the fielding is much improved. Also the team spirit is genuine and very strong. There is no ridicule and there are no insults — where these used to be found, now there is only respect.

But the batting, unfortunately, appears to be slowly sliding down the latrines. And there can only be so many collapses before a degree of permanent reputational loss begins to be suffered.

Think the primary reason is just a temporary loss of form. It could also be signs of an aging middle order but less likely since Kohli, Rahane and Pujara can't really be classified as 'old'.

On paper, they're still probably the strongest batting side in the World overall, when considering all conditions.

 

[The Scorer]

The Indian batting has been poor in England it was poor last time as well. They need to learn how to play the moving. The big booming drives they were playing on the first morning was asking for trouble. That's then the natch was lost.

 

[MP2011]

Think the primary reason is just a temporary loss of form. It could also be signs of an aging middle order but less likely since Kohli, Rahane and Pujara can't really be classified as 'old'.

2 years is not temporary, it's terminal!

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

India is a ghatiya batting unit.

Plain and simple.

The solution is accountability but there is none in India.

Bring in proper accountability and our batting will be much better.

Fab 5 was something else.

But we can atleast be decent.

Rught now we are saved by our bowling and lower order batting and some odd good knocks by our batsmen.

Pretty sad and pathetic that we are getting humiliated by this weak England team.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Our middle order averages 25.

Even minnows wont tolerate such garbage performances.

 

[Titan24]

It has been highly dependent upon Pujara and Kohli over the years with no other batsmen averaging even in high 40s (Until the comeback of Rohit). It was a decent batting lineup considering how the test batting over the years have declined in other countries as well with 50 averaging batsmen being far and few in comparison to 2000s or 90s era.

However, currently its an aging batting lineup which needs induction of some youth to create a decent balance as well as to start building the base of future lienup. 4 of the top 5 batsmen are over 33 which is not ideal along with the fact that most of them are struggling to deliver for sometime.

 

[Bewal Express]

As individuals they are all good players,but as unit on these wickets, they look vulnerable. You can imagine Gill coming in at 3 sooner or later and Puji being waived good bye, and Shaw coming into open for one of the openers, although they have both batted decently in the series

 

[MP2011]

The solution is accountability but there is none in India.

Bring in proper accountability and our batting will be much better.

Thats because Kohli himself is batting pathetically for over 2 years now. So he can't ask the likes of Pujara, Rahul, Rahane, Pant to be accountable.

Imagine captain of any other test team, having scored no test ton in over 2 years and that too when batting is his only strength.

 

[Firebat]

For PP Indians, what would be your ideal batting lineup for the next Test series? Who would you bring in to replace Rahane/Kohli/Pujara?

 

[sweep_shot]

Indian batting has declined.

It is not as good as before. Their bowling is now their main strength.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Thats because Kohli himself is batting pathetically for over 2 years now. So he can't ask the likes of Pujara, Rahul, Rahane, Pant to be accountable.

Imagine captain of any other test team, having scored no test ton in over 2 years and that too when batting is his only strength.

Thats why the management is to blame.

Pure circus.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

For PP Indians, what would be your ideal batting lineup for the next Test series? Who would you bring in to replace Rahane/Kohli/Pujara?

At this point, do inky, pinky, ponky and pick any batsman and replace them.

They might fail too but atleast we will move forward.

We wasted 3 tests playing this garbage batting lineup.

And oh, Kohli cant be replaced.

Pujara wont be due to his useless 91.

Rahane only can.

Lol.

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

Pujara, Kohli and Rahane do not deserve the reputation they deserve in test cricket

I would say Azhar, Younis and Misbah was a better middle order in ALL conditions
This sorry lot

 

[MenInG]

Team India were in a decent position to save the Test coming into day four of the Leeds Test. But what transpired after the start of play has many surprised. But former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar said that it was clear, India would not survive the day after Cheteshwar Pujara fell early. Pujara did not add a single run to his overnight score and was out LBW for 91.

Gavaskar went on to say that while India’s tail wagged in Lord’s Test, it was more due to England getting their tactics wrong, which they did not repeat on Saturday.

“We did have some rear guard action at Lord’s, when I think England lost the plot more than anything else. Once those top three wickets fell, it was clear they were not going to be able to survive for too long. But yes, for seven wickets to fall in 54 minutes is, by any stretch of imagination, a little hard to take," Gavaskar said on Sony after the match.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has hailed the contribution of Pujara. “This innings of ours was never about survival," said Rohit. “We had an intent to score runs and Pujara really showed that…Anything loose he was ready to pounce on it.

“Pujara, we have seen over the years, is a very disciplined batsman. Of late, the runs haven’t come, but that doesn’t mean the quality of Pujara has gone missing. The quality is always there."

Rohit added: “The way he batted shows the character of an individual and shows the mindset of an individual.

“But the team’s job is not done yet. We’ve got a crucial couple of days coming. Hopefully, he can still put his head down and keep batting like he does."

https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/...minutes-is-a-little-hard-to-take-4139291.html

 

[NishanKonar]

Thats because Kohli himself is batting pathetically for over 2 years now. So he can't ask the likes of Pujara, Rahul, Rahane, Pant to be accountable.

Imagine captain of any other test team, having scored no test ton in over 2 years and that too when batting is his only strength.

On a positive note Rohit Sharma is making a strong case for full time captain in all formats - not just ODI / T20 as was speculated earlier

 

[gazza619]

India’s main strength is its bowling not batting. I mean if a number 11 is batting at number 8, then its surely curtains.

 

[Usman]

I grew up watching a killer Indian batting line-up of:

Ganguly
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulker
Laxman
Yuvraj

The current Indian batting line-up is a joke in comparison. Not one batsman (including Kohli in his current form) from the current team would have made it ahead of any of the above.

 

[BakuGM]

At this point, do inky, pinky, ponky and pick any batsman and replace them.

They might fail too but atleast we will move forward.

We wasted 3 tests playing this garbage batting lineup.

And oh, Kohli cant be replaced.

Pujara wont be due to his useless 91.

Rahane only can.

Lol.

India has Pujara and Rahane problem (ala Azhar and Asad). India is scared of discarding the duo worrying the replacement might be worse. But there comes a time when you have to move on from the old workhorse and for India it is NOW. Kohli is too good a batsman to sustain a slump, he will come out it sooner or later but the above mentioned two are done for and need replacing at the earliest.

 

[OMB]

India has Pujara and Rahane problem (ala Azhar and Asad). India is scared of discarding the duo worrying the replacement might be worse. But there comes a time when you have to move on from the old workhorse and for India it is NOW. Kohli is too good a batsman to sustain a slump, he will come out it sooner or later but the above mentioned two are done for and need replacing at the earliest.

The most likely actions will be
1) Bench Rahane for the series and bring in Gill or Sky
2) Ashwin in place of Jadeja.
3) Thakur in place of Ishant

This could have happened already but since India performed better than England in first two tests, our middle order survived.
Now the situation is that we want to win the next test so chances of experimentation is even lower so not sure whether Kohli and Shastri will take the risk.

 

[OMB]

I remember when India did actually have genuinely great batters who would walk out in succession. Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Dhoni etc is beyond a dream lineup.

Back then the Indian team’s batting prowess was widely acknowledged, whereas conversely the bowling and fielding was regularly the target of insults and ridicule: trundling seam bowlers, no lateral movement, apparently Kumble can’t spin it & Harby is an alleged chucker so they both rely on umpire bias; lazy out-cricket, unfit, can’t catch, can’t run, etc. Underlining all this was a suspicion that India was a team of individuals.

Things have changed dramatically since then. Now the bowling is world class and the fielding is much improved. Also the team spirit is genuine and very strong. There is no ridicule and there are no insults — where these used to be found, now there is only respect.

But the batting, unfortunately, appears to be slowly sliding down the latrines. And there can only be so many collapses before a degree of permanent reputational loss begins to be suffered.

Some of the statements about Kumble and Harbhajan are inaccurate and the ones about Indian batting going down the latrines are perhaps splashed about a bit over-imaginatively.

There have been good performances from batsmen except the middle orders Kohli Rahane and Pujara (save this innings of Pujara). Lower than average batting prowess is the norm now for all the cricket playing nations and India would have been okay too but it is just that our talisman isn’t performing whereas Joe Root has been amazing.

 

[MP2011]

On a positive note Rohit Sharma is making a strong case for full time captain in all formats - not just ODI / T20 as was speculated earlier

No way Kohli will play under Rohit in any format of the game. His ego is too big for that.

 

[MP2011]

India’s main strength is its bowling not batting. I mean if a number 11 is batting at number 8, then its surely curtains.

Then we have a pedestrian middle order which makes us world's most underwhelming batting lineup, by far.

 

[Ab Fan]

Then we have a pedestrian middle order which makes us world's most underwhelming batting lineup, by far.

Since England series at home in 2016,

Rahane averages 33.77 in 48 tests. I doubt there are many batsman across the world who will get 48 tests run while maintaining an average of 33.77.

This explains how overrated the current Indian batting lineup is.

 

[MP2011]

Since England series at home in 2016,

Rahane averages 33.77 in 48 tests. I doubt there are many batsman across the world who will get 48 tests run while maintaining an average of 33.77.

This explains how overrated the current Indian batting lineup is.

Yeah, it is so bloody irritating to see Rahane playing every test we play as if we don't have anyone else in our ranks.

The guy is as laggard against pacers as he is against spinners. What do our selectors see in him besides him plucking some good catches in slips?

 

[PakLFC]

As is the case with any team the batting line up keeps changing. Have to consider injuries and replacements for players out of form. There is hardly any side that has a consistent batting line up for the reasons mentioned. Rohit and Kohli are the backbone of the Indian batting who they depend very heavily on. I don't know why Shekhar Dhawan has been omitted from the test side. He seemed to be the real thing too.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

India has Pujara and Rahane problem (ala Azhar and Asad). India is scared of discarding the duo worrying the replacement might be worse. But there comes a time when you have to move on from the old workhorse and for India it is NOW. Kohli is too good a batsman to sustain a slump, he will come out it sooner or later but the above mentioned two are done for and need replacing at the earliest.

True.

No accountability. Proactive thinking.

Or even reactive thinking.

Status quo except for template and hope we win.

 

[mastimasti]

True.

No accountability. Proactive thinking.

Or even reactive thinking.

Status quo except for template and hope we win.

We need an investigation as to why world class batsmen can not play even the slightly moving ball and why they falter and collapse against pace I South Africa. The BCCI has the best financed system on the planet and yet there is little or no accountability why we can't produce better batsmen in tricky situations.

It's one thing to out bat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Asia, another thing to never play pakistan, but to not even win a test series against c level south Africa and a b level England?

 

[Ab Fan]

Test batting average in SENA:-

Kohli 44
Pant 37
Rahane 36
Pujara 34
Rohit 29 ( going upward)
Rahul 26 ( going upward)

A great batting lineup should have one batsman averaging 45+ in SENA, two batsman averaging in the range 40-45, Openers averaging in the range 35-40 and wicket keeper batsman averaging in the range 30-35.

 

[Mobashir]

India has the best batting by far. If you don't believe it, Ask [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. He will explain that Karun Nair isn't even playing or in the squad.

 

[Mamoon]

India has the best batting by far. If you don't believe it, Ask [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. He will explain that Karun Nair isn't even playing or in the squad.

I don’t think Indian fans need lectures from their neighbors whose star batsman has 1 Test century outside Asia and is averaging low 40s.

Indian fans can see that the batting lineup is not looking good at the moment. Kohli is out of form and Pujara and Rahane could be in terminal decline.

From 2015-2020, India had the best batting lineup in the world but now they should look to inject some fresh blood in the middle-order.

You are right to point out Karun Nair because India’s batting standards are so high that even a guy with a triple-century against Anderson and Broad could not get into the team, and neither can someone like Agarwal who scored a double-century against Rabada and Maharaj.

Then you have the likes of Vihari on the bench who drew a Test for India in Sydney from a losing position against Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon.

The last time Pakistan did not lose a Test match in Australia, Javed Miandad was still playing international cricket.

There is no shortage of batting talent in India. They just need to choose the right time to move on from the current lot.

In 3-4 years, India will once again have a powerful lineup and will be ranked in the top 3 while Pakistan will continue to be 6th and 7th with their fans taking shots when their team cannot dream of performing like India.

 

[Robert]

It’s quite capable in Australia, surprisingly so.

On seaming wickets against good seam bowling it relies on the top four. Though Pant has a century in England.

 

[ElRaja]

It’s quite capable in Australia, surprisingly so.

On seaming wickets against good seam bowling it relies on the top four. Though Pant has a century in England.

aussie pitches arent what they used to be. even when pak tour they lose because bowlers are incapable of taking 20 wickets on those pitches, combined with kookaburra its not that difficult for semi competent batsmen.

australia has had the highest batting average of all test countries over last ten years i think.

 

[Cric1234]

I don’t think Indian fans need lectures from their neighbors whose star batsman has 1 Test century outside Asia and is averaging low 40s.

Indian fans can see that the batting lineup is not looking good at the moment. Kohli is out of form and Pujara and Rahane could be in terminal decline.

From 2015-2020, India had the best batting lineup in the world but now they should look to inject some fresh blood in the middle-order.

You are right to point out Karun Nair because India’s batting standards are so high that even a guy with a triple-century against Anderson and Broad could not get into the team, and neither can someone like Agarwal who scored a double-century against Rabada and Maharaj.

Then you have the likes of Vihari on the bench who drew a Test for India in Sydney from a losing position against Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon.

The last time Pakistan did not lose a Test match in Australia, Javed Miandad was still playing international cricket.

There is no shortage of batting talent in India. They just need to choose the right time to move on from the current lot.

In 3-4 years, India will once again have a powerful lineup and will be ranked in the top 3 while Pakistan will continue to be 6th and 7th with their fans taking shots when their team cannot dream of performing like India.

When only one batsman currently averages over 50 then surely their standards cannot be that high?

 

[Swashbuckler]

Hype? Who hypes them?

Indian fans abuse this batting lineup 24x7, most of us know how pathetic our middle order has been for the last 3 years.

Desperately in need of fresh blood. A nobody like Rahane given a continuous run for the last 10 years, that should tell you how pathetic this generation of Indian test batsmen has been. Pakistanis got rid of Asad Shafiq, here the infamous Mumbai lobby will ensure VC Rahane plays 120 tests even if his average falls below 30.

 

[RamLakhan]

Since England series at home in 2016,

Rahane averages 33.77 in 48 tests. I doubt there are many batsman across the world who will get 48 tests run while maintaining an average of 33.77.

This explains how overrated the current Indian batting lineup is.

There was a chance to introduce someone in place of Rahane when he was struggling against spin at home (2-4 years back). But they persisted with him giving the reason of "Experience"! I remember Karun Nair (who got chance to play in place of Rahane itself due to Rahane's injury) could not retain his place in the team immediately even after his triple century as Rahane returned back! I know Karun Nair might have failed in some other matches on tougher pitches, but who knows with persistence and confidence he could have grown up like Rohit Sharma! This is just an example... (Vihari could be another person)

 

[Mobashir]

I don’t think Indian fans need lectures from their neighbors whose star batsman has 1 Test century outside Asia and is averaging low 40s.

Indian fans can see that the batting lineup is not looking good at the moment. Kohli is out of form and Pujara and Rahane could be in terminal decline.

From 2015-2020, India had the best batting lineup in the world but now they should look to inject some fresh blood in the middle-order.

You are right to point out Karun Nair because India’s batting standards are so high that even a guy with a triple-century against Anderson and Broad could not get into the team, and neither can someone like Agarwal who scored a double-century against Rabada and Maharaj.

Then you have the likes of Vihari on the bench who drew a Test for India in Sydney from a losing position against Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon.

The last time Pakistan did not lose a Test match in Australia, Javed Miandad was still playing international cricket.

There is no shortage of batting talent in India. They just need to choose the right time to move on from the current lot.

In 3-4 years, India will once again have a powerful lineup and will be ranked in the top 3 while Pakistan will continue to be 6th and 7th with their fans taking shots when their team cannot dream of performing like India.

Why bring Pakistan into it?

Indian test batting is at it's lowest in the last 25 years.

They have Kohli as the only great batsman in the side. It's a shame that India carried someone like Rahane for 10 years, a 40 averaging batsman.
They have no replacement whatsoever, other wise, never India would have carried a 40 averaging batsman. The only viable replacement is Vihari, who himself averages in the low 30's, I think.

Forgot about Nair, who averages in the 20's in Indians FC over the last 2 years. No way the guy can play international cricket when he is not fit to score even in domestic cricket.

 

[MP2011]

The way Rahane is being carried over despite being absolutely dire for over 4 years now, says volumes about the stranglehold of Mumbai lobby over Indian cricket and how weak a captain Kohli actually is in spite of all those public shows of fake bravado!

 

[Swashbuckler]

Tough to watch this test if no changes are made in our middle order.

Watching Rahane bat is the worst form of torture.

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

Indian batting hype is purely on memories and nostalgia of 2000s