Where is the Harness?

                    WHERE IS THE HARNESS?

Would you go bungee jumping without a harness? What would you do if you are stuck half way through a mountain you are climbing and realise you don’t have a safety harness? Would you still go ahead with the free fall jump and the climb? 

The above questions are self-explanatory, but currently the Indian team playing in New Zealand is disregarding the rhetoric. What else could be the reason for not carrying an extra opener to foreign tours which have been nightmarish to openers in the past as well. It is true that Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay have been in form before these series but their current failures on foreign soil signals a need for an alternative. An alternative, not necessarily meant to replace them but to put at least some sort of a pressure on them to perform. 

Rohit Sharma in South Africa and now in New Zealand have failed miserably, with only 1 fifty in 7 innings, he surely needs to answer his critics about his ability to perform overseas. Shikhar Dhawan on the other hand had a promising start to his career but just squandered away the faith shown upon him by the selectors in the past 2 months by getting starts, getting into the 20s, 30s and throwing his wicket away. Azharuddin’s comment about a flaw in his technique to play the short ball is proving itself to be right. Murali Vijay was performing well in India followed by a brief innings of 90+ in South Africa, it will be harsh on him to criticise him now. 

In ODIs, contrary to their batting styles, Rohit and Shikhar used up too many balls to settle and then failed to utilise that advantage, leaving the team in a fix. Now that ODIs are over the focus of this argument would shift on Shikhar Dhawan’s form and no alternative for him if he fails again in the first test. The scintillating 187 he scored on debut, announced his arrival on the international front but his form lately demands a big knock, most probably in his next innings.

This brings us to the question of carrying a replacement in the squad. Gautam Gambhir has been in a very good form in the domestic circuit this year and citing his experience at the international level, Gambhir deserved a place in the 17-man squad that was selected for the tour. During the last tour to New Zealand in 2009, Gautam Gambhir played a very important hand in India’s success but his exclusion from the team this time despite being in good form would mean that Indian will climb this test series cliff without any safety harness at the top.

What will India’s game plan be if Dhawan fails again in the first test? His failure in the ODIs led to his ousted from the team for at least one match, but not having a designated opener in the bag created more problems for this team. 

Getting your middle-order batsman to open, is a strategy that might work in ODIs but for test cricket a specialist opener is a must. If Dhawan fails, then India will have no other option but to play him in the 2nd test despite a poor form. 

MS Dhoni, for the time he has been the captain of the side, have shown immense faith on the youngsters and that has compelled them to perform. But the consistent failures on foreign soil when it comes to test cricket raise the important question of carrying replacements of these players. 

India is currently no.2 on the ranking table while New Zealand at no.8 but the recently concluded ODI series makes it clear that they are a team with much more potential. Taking Gautam Gambhir in the squad would have added that much needed pressure on the openers to perform moreover this would have been a boost for Gambhir that his hopes to play in the 2015world cup are still alive and would encourage him to perform better. 

When you are climbing cliffs which have not been explored by your team, safety becomes a pre-requisite, so, where is India’s harness?