India has lost the five-match Test series to England with them leading 3-1 with one Test to go.
England leads the series 3-1 with one match to go and India can only play for pride in the last Test at the Kia Oval. Indian batting was highly dependent on Virat Kohli and though Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara came good in the last two Tests, the overall performance of the top order and remaining batsmen remained spotty.
The three openers for India Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, and M Vijay have scored a cumulative of just 297 runs in the Test series so far. This has been the reason for India’s loss as they were unable to chase gettable totals in Edgbaston and Southampton.
Though the win at Nottingham gave India hopes of a series win in England after 2007, the heartbreaking loss at Southampton shed lights at the severe shortcomings of the Indian team and some of the players’ performances are under the spotlight.
The below-listed players have performed hugely under expectations and their own records and skills and there is a high chance that they might never get to wear the India whites again in the future.
Here are 3 Indian players who might never play Test cricket again
DINESH KARTHIK
However, since the retirement of MS Dhoni, India has been on the search for a brilliant batsman-keeper and with Saha injured, Karthik saw the opportunity to fill that gap. But unfortunately, Karthik failed miserably with the bat, scoring 21 runs in 4 innings including two ducks.
Behind the stumps, he took 5 catches, but also dropped a few chances, an important one of Sam Curran on Day one of the first Test, which prolonged England’s innings to day two and took away a big morale boost from India.
His wicket-keeping hasn’t been a bit convincing when it comes to technique or catching. He failed to deal with the movement of the ball after it passes the batsman and his catching was sketchy at the best.
His batting has been one of the best assets for India in limited overs format, but when it came to facing the guile and skills of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, he was brutally exposed and he failed to come good and cement his place.
Finally, he was dropped after the first two Tests and was replaced by 20-year-old Rishabh Pant, who started his Test career with a second ball six.
With Karthik inching towards the age of 34 years and young Rishabh Pant on his heels along with other few options as the replacement, it can be safely said that Karthik’s Test career may stay limited to 26 Tests and he may remain a player whose full potential was never realized due to his own inconsistency.
MURALI VIJAY
The opener who was known for his immaculate judgment of the off stump and for leaving the balls aplenty; started getting dismissed bowled and LBW. Vijay had troubles in Tests against South Africa earlier in the year with scores of 1, 13, 46, 9, 8 and 25 in the three Tests.
His struggles continued against pace and the moving ball in England, as he joined an unwanted list of Indian openers to bag a pair in a Test in England when he was dismissed for 0 and 0 at Lord’s. The way of his dismissal at the hands of James Anderson in the first innings was proof enough that Vijay had lost his touch, as he was castled with a full out swinging delivery.
He was dropped after the Lord’s Test and sent back home after being dropped from the squad for the last two Tests and replaced by the 18-year-old sensation Prithvi Shaw.
At 34 years old, Vijay might have played his last Test as India will be touring Australia in November and the pace and bounce on the Australian pitches will be more difficult than England and with Shaw poised for a Test debut at Oval, Vijay’s days as the premier opener for Indian team might have come to an end.
SHIKHAR DHAWAN
This led to him being dropped for the first two Tests in favor of Vijay and Rahul. But with Vijay bagging a pair at Lord’s, Dhawan was called back and since then has scores of 26, 13, 35, 44, 23 and 17. This has shown that despite getting starts, he has been unable to carry it forward.
He has struggled against the moving ball and in an effort to dominate the bowling threw away his wicket at the most inopportune times.
India needed big scores from Dhawan, but his ineptness at leaving the balls outside off stump had him caught in slips quite often, or he played onto his stumps and was bowled, as he failed to deal with swinging and moving balls from Anderson and Broad.
The Indian team management has been very patient with Dhawan in the longer format, but apart from some scores and century against New Zealand in New Zealand, he has failed to master the foreign conditions of South Africa, England and Australia.
Pace and moving ball have been his bane, while he has plundered attacks on subcontinent pitches with élan.
It is high time, India moves on from Dhawan, as it has always been false promises from him on overseas tours, as evident from his tours to England in 2014 and now in 2018. The stories remain same with Dhawan; he shows potential and gets out when the team needs him to play long innings.
With the likes of Prithvi Shaw already poised for his Test debut and Mayank Agarwal making strong claims for an Indian team all up, the team management has better and younger options to look at for the future.