India needs to strengthen their batting line-up in overseas conditions

Lately, India has been following the strategy of going with five batsmen, four bowlers, one all-rounder and one wicketkeeper in Test matches. Hardik Pandya is tipped to be the all-rounder that India has been looking for for so many years now. However, he has not been able to justify the tag of all-rounder so far.

Let's talk about Pandya's batting first. Except for the score of 93 that he scored in the first innings of the first Test against South Africa early this year, he failed in the other five innings of the Test series. In the last Test match against England at Edgbaston, he scored only 53 runs.

His bowling performance has not been better either. He took only three wickets in the entire South African series across three Tests at an average of 54. In the last Test against England, he went wicketless, and in the entire second innings, he was not called upon to bowl by Kohli. This shows a lack of confidence that Kohli has on Pandya's bowling.

Ravichandran Ashwin can easily fill in the role of an all-rounder. He has four Test hundreds, which is no small feat. Even in the second innings at Edgbaston, he was promoted to the number six batting position, which shows the confidence that the team management has on Ashwin's ability with the bat.

India will be better off going with a proper batsman in place of Pandya. This will help strengthen the Indian batting line-up, which is what is required in overseas conditions. In the three-Test series against South Africa early this year and now in the last Test against England, India has posted a total of 300+ runs only once.

They lost the Test series against South Africa and lost the first Test against England. These results should be enough for the team management to realize that India needs a better batting performance.

There is no doubt in my mind that India should go in with six batsmen and four bowlers with Ashwin playing the role of an all-rounder that India has been searching for.