Staff Writer – Archi
Indian cricket is at a crossroad with some of the big names of the game hanging up their boots in quick succession. There is no longer Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or Anil Kumble to shoulder the responsibilities now. Time for stylish right-hander VVS Laxman is also running out.
In this context the India ‘A’ tour of West Indies assumed great significance as the Indian senior national selectors got a chance to identify the talents of the future. But the debacle of Gen-Next batsmen in the three-match ‘unofficial Test series’ in the Caribbean has only given the selectors sleepless nights.
The fact that India’s batting bench-strength came a cropper is of great concern since India will be playing 10 Test matches in the coming season.
But for one match-winning innings from skipper Chetehwar Pujara, there hasn’t been a performance of note in the series as Indian batsmen faltered against both West Indian spin and pace attack.
The selectors were keeping an eye particularly on three players — Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara. And certainly, Rahane and Rohit’s performance left a lot to be desired.
While Pujara, with one match-winning knock and a couple of more half centuries, scored 252 runs at an average of 50 plus, Rohit, after his 94 in the very first innings, managed only 51 runs in the next five innings. Rohit managed a meager 145 runs at an average of 24.16 in six innings. Rahane, on the other hand, managed only 62 runs in six innings.
Lalchand Rajput, the India ‘A’ coach for the tour, said batting has failed as a unit and they were reduced to 20-3 or 30-3 in virtually no time. Left-arm West Indian paceman Delorn Johnson, working up a decent pace, took 17 wickets, while left-arm spinner Veeraswamy Permaul, too, chipped in with crucial wickets for the hosts.
The tour, coming on the back of the much-hyped Indian Premier League (IPL), suddenly grounded all the rising stars of Indian cricket with Rahane, Manoj Tiwary and Rohit being good examples.
Manoj Tiwary (182 runs in six innings) emerged as the second highest scorer 
but his form was also scratchy as he got out on a few occasions after getting well-set.
Another huge disappointment was, of course, Abhinav Mukund, the most prolific run-getter in the domestic circuit for the last couple of seasons. He has been on India tours to England and West Indies before and after sitting out the IPL with an injury, one would have expected him to make a mark in the Caribbean. But 46 runs off six innings had pushed him back by quite a few notches.
Rather it was the Indian bowlers who came up with some decent performances.
Sami Ahmed, a virtual rookie in top-flight cricket, made it count with 13 wickets in three ‘Tests’.
The other success was Akshay Darekar, a left-arm spinner from Maharashtra, but it is heard that his action is not beyond suspicion. However, paceman Ashok Dinda, who had a fabulous domestic season, didn’t reap the harvest that was expected of him.
There is another ‘A’ tour lined up against New Zealand ‘A’ in September and the rising stars of Indian cricket should now realize that time is running out for them to make it count.
