Is it the end for the Holy Trinity?

It has been an embarrassing performance yet again by the Indian team down under. On the brink of the 8th consecutive defeat outside Indian soil, it brings back memories of the olden days when we used to tigers at home and timid abroad. Even in those days we managed to escape defeat and has never lost consecutively for 8 matches.

Commentators and critics alike, have been calling for the heads of the seniors in the team – Sachin, Dravid and Laxman saying their time is up. Its time to move on.

That said, is it really only the seniors who are at fault? Even in the current series, other than Kohli in the last 2 matches, only Sachin (a senior) has looked even close to getting runs for the team (albeit as I write I acknowledge the last 2 matches have been complete failures). But if you take into account the first two matches, especially the first test, we were in a strong position at 221/3 in the 1^st innings with Sachin and Dravid at the crease. But once they were gone, it was a familiar story of a collapse and it all went downhill from there onwards as far as this tour was concerned. Cast our mind back to the dreaded tour of England, and the only batsmen who was among the runs was Dravid, who looked in awesome touch throughout the summer, but he waged a lone battle.

Let’s look at some statistics from 2010 to 2012. I chose this period to ensure we capture both the period in which we reached the summit of the rankings and then the subsequent decline. (All statistics and tables are courtesy Cricinfo Statsguru)

Overall figures Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs scored	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
SR Tendulkar	2010-2012	24	43	3	2236	214	55.9	52.48	6	11
R Dravid	2010-2012	25	46	4	1893	191	45.07	43.25	7	5
VVS Laxman	2010-2012	25	45	7	1788	176*	47.05	50.32	3	13
V Sehwag	2010-2012	22	40	1	1777	173	45.56	87.4	5	11
MS Dhoni	2010-2012	26	43	4	1244	144	31.89	56.82	2	7
G Gambhir	2010-2012	19	35	1	952	93	28	46.32	0	8
SK Raina	2010-2011	15	26	2	710	120	29.58	53.46	1	6
Harbhajan Singh	2010-2011	17	26	2	627	115	26.12	68.75	2	2
V Kohli	2011-2012	8	15	0	491	116	32.73	47.66	1	3
M Vijay	2010-2011	9	16	0	418	139	26.12	43.9	1	1
R Ashwin	2011-2012	6	9	1	269	103	33.62	75.35	1	1
I Sharma	2010-2012	24	39	13	269	31*	10.34	28.64	0	0
A Mishra	2010-2011	6	10	0	255	84	25.5	56.91	0	1
A Mukund	2011-2011	5	10	0	211	62	21.1	40.73	0	1
Yuvraj Singh	2010-2011	4	7	0	193	62	27.57	56.93	0	2
Z Khan	2010-2012	13	20	1	164	35	8.63	48.8	0	0
P Kumar	2011-2011	6	10	0	149	40	14.9	93.71	0	0
A Mithun	2010-2011	4	5	0	120	46	24	48.19	0	0
CA Pujara	2010-2011	3	5	0	107	72	21.4	51.69	0	1
WP Saha	2010-2012	2	4	1	71	36	23.66	34.8	0	0
S Badrinath	2010-2010	2	3	0	63	56	21	35.39	0	1
PP Ojha	2010-2011	11	12	8	63	18*	15.75	20	0	0
S Sreesanth	2010-2011	10	16	6	55	24	5.5	31.07	0	0
U Yadav	2011-2012	6	8	5	27	21	9	38.02	0	0
RP Singh	2011-2011	1	2	0	25	25	12.5	96.15	0	0
R Vinay Kumar	2012-2012	1	2	0	11	6	5.5	45.83	0	0
VR Aaron	2011-2011	1	2	1	6	4	6	31.57	0	0
MM Patel	2011-2011	1	1	1	4	4*	-	80	0	0
JD Unadkat	2010-2010	1	2	1	2	1*	2	13.33	0	0

From 2010-2012, the top 3 leading run scorers for the team in all matches (home and away) have been? The Trinity.

Overall figures Player	Mat	Inns	NO	RunsDescending	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50
SR Tendulkar	14	27	2	1276	203	51.04	2454	51.99	3	6
R Dravid	17	33	3	1121	146*	37.36	2754	40.7	4	2
VVS Laxman	17	33	3	1055	103*	35.16	2180	48.39	1	9
V Sehwag	12	23	0	731	109	31.78	894	81.76	2	4
MS Dhoni	16	28	2	726	90	27.92	1233	58.88	0	6
SK Raina	10	19	2	566	120	33.29	1076	52.6	1	5
G Gambhir	10	20	0	527	93	26.35	1320	39.92	0	4
V Kohli	7	13	0	376	116	28.92	805	46.7	1	1
Harbhajan Singh	10	17	1	259	70	16.18	397	65.23	0	1
A Mishra	4	7	0	227	84	32.42	398	57.03	0	1
A Mukund	5	10	0	211	62	21.1	518	40.73	0	1
M Vijay	6	11	0	199	58	18.09	479	41.54	0	1
I Sharma	17	30	10	181	31*	9.05	658	27.5	0	0
P Kumar	6	10	0	149	40	14.9	159	93.71	0	0
R Ashwin	3	5	0	148	62	29.6	194	76.28	0	1
Yuvraj Singh	2	4	0	127	62	31.75	225	56.44	0	2
A Mithun	4	5	0	120	46	24	249	48.19	0	0
Z Khan	7	12	1	104	35	9.45	166	62.65	0	0
PP Ojha	3	4	2	35	18*	17.5	166	21.08	0	0
WP Saha	1	2	1	35	35	35	100	35	0	0
CA Pujara	2	3	0	31	19	10.33	115	26.95	0	0
U Yadav	4	7	5	27	21	13.5	70	38.57	0	0
RP Singh	1	2	0	25	25	12.5	26	96.15	0	0
S Sreesanth	6	11	4	25	7*	3.57	76	32.89	0	0
R Vinay Kumar	1	2	0	11	6	5.5	24	45.83	0	0
MM Patel	1	1	1	4	4*	-	5	80	0	0
JD Unadkat	1	2	1	2	1*	2	15	13.33	0	0

During the same period, considering only away matches, the 3 top scorers have been? The same 3 again.

Overall figures Player	Mat	Inns	NO	RunsDescending	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50
R Dravid	11	22	3	906	146*	47.68	2149	42.15	4	2
VVS Laxman	11	22	1	580	87	27.61	1277	45.41	0	6
SR Tendulkar	8	16	0	560	91	35	1038	53.94	0	4
MS Dhoni	10	19	2	419	77	24.64	762	54.98	0	4
V Kohli	7	13	0	376	116	28.92	805	46.7	1	1
SK Raina	7	14	1	337	82	25.92	676	49.85	0	4
G Gambhir	7	14	0	283	83	20.21	742	38.14	0	1
V Sehwag	6	12	0	239	67	19.91	332	71.98	0	2
A Mukund	5	10	0	211	62	21.1	518	40.73	0	1
A Mishra	3	6	0	187	84	31.16	332	56.32	0	1
Harbhajan Singh	5	9	1	156	70	19.5	232	67.24	0	1
P Kumar	6	10	0	149	40	14.9	159	93.71	0	0
R Ashwin	3	5	0	148	62	29.6	194	76.28	0	1
I Sharma	11	20	7	81	16	6.23	291	27.83	0	0
M Vijay	3	6	0	72	45	12	198	36.36	0	0
Yuvraj Singh	1	2	0	70	62	35	147	47.61	0	1
Z Khan	5	9	1	54	35	6.75	76	71.05	0	0
WP Saha	1	2	1	35	35	35	100	35	0	0
U Yadav	4	7	5	27	21	13.5	70	38.57	0	0
RP Singh	1	2	0	25	25	12.5	26	96.15	0	0
S Sreesanth	3	6	2	18	7*	4.5	42	42.85	0	0
R Vinay Kumar	1	2	0	11	6	5.5	24	45.83	0	0
MM Patel	1	1	1	4	4*	-	5	80	0	0
A Mithun	1	1	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0

Considering the last 1 year alone (our period of decline) , the top 3 again are Messrs. Sachin, Dravid and Laxman. It must be said though that, if we consider the the average during this period, Laxman appears to have declined the most, his performance is not significantly different from the other team members.

Now lets look at the performance of the youngsters who we assume are going to replace these legends, in our team. Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina are the two youngsters who have actually been given an extended run (and by this I do accept that 7 or 8 test matches are not at all completely sufficient to assess how good a Test match player someone is) but if there are loopholes in the technique required to negotiate the foreign conditions, once can easily comprehend in this period. Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund have had their chances but they will for sure have their chance yet again to stake their claims for a permanent spot in the test team. Looking at the performance charts and tables above, apart from Kohli, is there someone we can actually say is truly performed exceptionally well, better than the 3 seniors whose heads are now being targeted? Is a Suresh Raina should be persisted with, should not a senior who has served the team with distinction over the past “n” number of years be allowed the chance to get back his form? As mentioned earlier, Laxman appears to have the least chance of staking and on current form, Kohli will replace Laxman in the starting eleven, but he will not/cannot replace either Sachin or Dravid.

That said, one argument is, unless we give them the chance to perform, how else will we know whether a Rohit Sharma is the next Indian no. 3 or a Cheteshwar Pujara? A valid point, but that doesn’t mean wholesome changes like dropping Sachin, Laxman, Dravid and going into the next series with a completely new middle-order. What is needed is a proper transition plan with the inputs of all the seniors. For all they have done for the team, the seniors deserve at least this. If Dravid wants to continue playing, then he should be allowed. If the selectors feel on current form, Pujara is a better No. 3 than Dravid then drop him. If Dravid goes back to Ranji and makes runs, he should be recalled and not think of it as a step backward. If Sachin decides to call time on his career tomorrow, then it should be on his terms, not because he is forced to do it.

Now is not the time to start the blame game as to whether it is the seniors or the selectors that are responsibe for Indian cricket being in this state. It’s time for introspection and rebuilding.