South Africa calling...

India's new opener, playing his first test, scored 187, the fastest on debut and in the process became the highest scorer on debut for India. Shikhar Dhawan is the 13th Indian to do so (according to records). The elite list includes Indian batting greats like Lala Amarnath, Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Saurav Ganguly, Virendra Sehwag & others who haven't really made it big, but nevertheless scored a century. Out of the above, Azharuddin scored 3 centuries in his first 3 tests, Ganguly scored 2. They went on to become quite respectful captains of the Indian team.

Dhawan has been waiting for long, warming the bench, ever since he became a household name in IPL, playing for Delhi Daredevils to start with & last year he played for Mumbai Indians. He has also been scoring big in domestic arena. Murali Vijay too has scored 2 centuries in row now against Australia in the current series. So has India found the best opening combination after Sehwag-Gambhir? Well time will tell. India next plays a full-fledged Test series in South Africa in November & that is the place where both these openers are going to be tested. All South African wickets are going to present bounce & swing which will be exploited to the maximum by the Proteas bowlers, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel & others. So as far as the current series goes, yes, we should be sticking to the current pair & look to win the series; if not this match, then the next which is incidentally the home-ground for young Dhawan.

India is on recovery-path in terms of gaining back the reputation of a formidable side & the transition phase is yet to complete. India is going to miss the services of Dravid & Laxman who retired last year, especially in South Africa. We are surely going to need a no. 3 who would be doing the recovery work, often associated with the WALL & Cheteshwar Pujara has to prepare well in the coming 6-7 months to work on his technique. So do the current pair of openers, assuming they get selected on the team to RSA. The grand-old-man of Indian team is going to need to pull up his socks, dig deep into his bag of experience & try his best to put his team into respectable position, one-last time. This, is going to be his last tour to RSA & Sachin seems knows it well. He is not going to play ODIs till November & there is no domestic series between June to September thanks to monsoon. So wonder, how is he going to be in prime form before the all-important tour. His last 2 overseas tours (England & Australia) have been too poor by his own standards in terms of runs scored. He is going to need a hell lot of homework before he appears for the test. Strange, even after 23 years of international career, he would need to go back to basics. Is it the end? Time will tell.

India seem to have found a good opening pair, & with Sehwag & Gambhir trying to come back in the team, the signs are good. For now, even the no. 3 position can be called safe & I am still happy to bet on no. 4 who, I think, can come good in the SA conditions. But, the big question is of no. 5 & 6 (if Dhoni continues to play at 7). The once strongest middle order of Indian team has now become the weakest after the exit of Saurav Ganguly & VVS Laxman, especially the latter. Unless, Kohli puts up a better show in this & the last test the future seems to be bleak. Hope the bouncy wickets of South Africa will help him play his shots & natural game. Indian team has experimented a lot with no. 6, with Raina & Yuvraj. It's time Ajinkya Rahane gets a chance. He has been "marked" as middle-order player, for some strange reason & since then he has been warming the bench, becoming the "Batli-Boy" of the team, delivering drinks & bats/gloves/helmets to the team on field. Any player not in the 11, does that, but he has become the specialist in that rather than his batting. I hope the team management gives his his due. Or else, send him back to his domestic team & let him score some runs instead of warming the bench.

Indian team seems to have found a new swing-bowler after Zaheer & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has done justice to his selection by picking up early wickets swinging the ball both ways even on our dead pitches. He would relish the South African conditions. Ishant Sharma has been improving & we still have a good fast-bowling (if you wish to call them fast bowlers) talent on bench. However, they all are inexperienced & Zaheer can make a comeback if he is fit. So the fast bowling department looks good. The ball is not going to spin much, so we could do well to play just 1 or maximum 2 spinners. Having said that, the big worry is that the batting tail starts at no. 8 & it is pretty weak, rarely showing any resistance. So no. 5 & 6 is still going to be having the heaviest burden on their shoulders, especially if the previous 5 batters have not played to their reputation. We can think of including Sehwag in the team & put him in middle order, at no. 5, a place where he can come good. After all he has scored his first runs in South Africa & he has a good record against the spinners or the tired fast bowlers. No. 6 can go to Kohli or Rahane, whoever gets selected or even Dhoni if he decides to promote himself up the order.

Seems, we have a huge task on hand. Hope, the selectors & team management takes some sensible decisions, put up a good mix of experience & youth. Now that Fletcher has got an extension of a year, his task is cut out. Pull the team together, prepare them for the SA tour & produce some results. Vijayi Bhav...