NAGPUR, India, (Reuters) – India need to carefully groom replacements for their batting “fab four” after suffering a crushing innings defeat by South Africa on Tuesday, former captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said.
Without the experience of Rahul Dravid, Vangipurappu Laxman and Yuvraj Singh through injury, India struggled to cope with Dale Steyn’s express pace and movement and lost in under four days.
“The selectors need to look at grooming players,” former test captain Vengsarkar told Reuters yesterday, after the innings-and-six-run defeat.
Dravid, Laxman, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and the retired Saurav Ganguly contributed more than 38,000 runs as they formed India’s middle order for a decade.
Yuvraj has succeeded Ganguly at six in the order, having proved himself in the one-day game, but other replacements have yet to be found.
“That’s three big (pairs of) boots to fill in the future,” said Vengsarkar, who as a former chief selector was instrumental in India’s rise to the number one ranking.
“For that the selectors need to have a vision, foresight and guts.”
Wriddhiman Saha struggled in the middle order during the first test, contributing 36 runs after being given an unexpected debut when Rohit Sharma, called up as cover for Laxman, sustained an injury just before the match.
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Subramaniam Badrinath, however, showed promising signs by scoring a first-innings fifty but he has some way to go to fill the boots of his illustrious predecessors.
Saha has lost his place in the squad for the second test, which starts in Kolkata on Sunday, and Dravid and Yuvraj are ruled out, though Laxman is expected to be fit.