It was big selection blunder from Team India to prefer KL Rahul over Murali Vijay on a greenish Eden Gardens pitch, and it seems mistake will be repeated in Nagpur also.
Sri Lanka were routed at home 0-9 across three formats by India three months ago but they bounced back to win two Tests against Pakistan in UAE. Pace spearhead Suranga Lakmal troubled India in both the innings in a match haul of seven wickets and it was Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 104 in the second innings that swung the momentum in the final two sessions.
Top order batsmen KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Anjikya Rahane and Virat Kohli failed miserably in the first innings. These batsmen are the most certain to play against South Africa as well. Suranga Lakmal, Dasun Shanaka and Lahiru Gamage showed all of them, they are not ready to challenge South Africa at their home soil, yet!
Even though the BCCI clarified that The greenish pitch at Eden Garden has been deliberately prepared to suit fast bowling, there is no denying that the weaknesses if world’s best batting line up has been thoroughly exposed.
Strangely, India didn’t pick Murali Vijay even after seeing Green Top at Eden Gardens, even though he has been the best Indian batsman in last years, in bouncy wickets.
In more recent times, we’ve seen such resolute batting from Murali Vijay, at Lord’s in 2014. India had conceded a 24-run lead, and Vijay held the second innings together with a 95 that spanned more than six hours and 247 balls. This was on the back of 146 at Trent Bridge, and he finished the tour with more runs than Kohli and Pujara managed in tandem. A few months later, he went to Australia and made nearly 500 runs in four Tests. That included a century in Brisbane, a venue where only three other Indians – ML Jaisimha, Sunil Gavaskar and Ganguly – have made hundreds.
Vijay also has a 97 to his name in South Africa, traditionally the toughest tour for opening batsmen. In the context of those numbers, leaving him out of the XI here with a tour of South Africa looming didn’t make much sense. Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul did wonderfully well in Sri Lanka, but the Indian habit in recent times has been to go back to the established stalwart once he returns from injury.
Maybe Dhawan’s two hundreds in Sri Lanka queered the selection pitch. Rahul, at 25, is clearly the prospect for the future. But Vijay is only 18 months older than Dhawan, and his recent Ranji Trophy hundred was proof that his injury woes are behind him. Dhawan has that priceless ability to set the tone for a series in a session or two, as he did in Galle in July, but on a challenging surface, his penchant for the cavalier makes him a batsman bowlers would love to see in their sights.
A problem of plenty is always a good one to have. But with tours of England and Australia to follow the trip to South Africa, India need to identity their first-choice pairing. It would be quite an eye-opener if Vijay didn’t feature in that.
