Courtesy: BCCI/X
India weren’t quite consistent with their results in Test cricket in the last couple of years with Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid at the helm, especially in overseas conditions. This meant that the Indian team management left out senior players from the squad, including big names like Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav, among others, to initiate a transition phase in the Test format.
During recent times, the Indian selection committee has picked a few youngsters in the Test squad, leading to some of them gaining instant success, while the others haven’t been quite as impressive. With Gautam Gambhir in charge as the head coach alongside captain Rohit Sharma currently in Tests, India suffered a humiliating Test series defeat at home for the first-time in 12 years, succumbing to a 0-3 loss against New Zealand.
Because of these results, there is immense pressure on the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja to deliver the goods in the upcoming five-match Border-Gavaskar (BGT) Test series against Australia down under. Regardless of what the future holds for these stalwarts, in this article, SportsTiger looks at India’s Test team of the future, which could take their incredible legacy forward in Test cricket.
Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad
Yashasvi Jaiswal has taken to Test cricket like fish to water, said the former Indian coach Ravi Shastri on commentary, to describe his successful first few months in the longest format. The 22-year-old, who scored a debut hundred against West Indies in the Caribbean, took giant strides in the Test format against England, scoring a double hundred in Visakhapatnam, to play a crucial role in India defeating a very formidable opponent.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, 27, is one of the most consistent performers in the Ranji Trophy in the last couple of seasons for Maharashtra. For that very reason, he was picked in the Indian squad for the Test tour to South Africa at the turn of the year before captaining India A on the recently concluded tour to Australia against their A side.
