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Sep

INDIA WIN AND YET NOT

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New Delhi | Thursday | September 03, 2026
India expectedly won the Test series in Sri Lanka but unexpectedly could not force a win from a position of strength in the Second Test and had to settle for a draw.
This jeopardises our chances in World Test Championship.

This column, on 20 July 2026, while applauding the selections as more logical than before, had highlighted couple of omissions. One of Shami especially since Bumrah was injured and pace attack needed experience. Second of Axar Patel who has the best all time ever average among bowlers for India in Tests.

Shubman Gill as captain is showing little faith in Kuldeep Yadav who is a wicket taking bowler and his performance has dipped.

It was also questionable if three left arm spinners should have been playing together.

In the end it was India's bowling which let us down in the Second Test with our inability to bowl out Sri Lanka in the second innings to force a win.

The batting. On the other hand, had a good time and there were couple of gains.

The biggest was emergence of Devdutt Padikkal, after having been in and out of the team, who showed both technique and temperament to fill the crucial no. 3 slot.

It places selectors in a quandary about return of Sai Sudharsan who was being groomed as one drop batter.

Dhruv Jurel was another gain as a stand alone batter. 

However, we have to be prudent in evaluating these performances which are in the subcontinent and do not guarantee success in overseas conditions especially in seamer friendly New Zealand are entirely different.

The ability to deliver in SENA countries is the real test and therefore we should not assume that the two batting slots which Padikkal and Jurel occupied are fully sealed.

India's next Test series is in New Zealand where the conditions are entirely different from the sub continent and the bowling combination would need to change to 3 pacers and 2 spinners.

We have to think who are our best bowlers and take them to New Zealand. The bowling still needs to be settled.

Even if Bumrah is available, the selectors need to give a serious thought to Shami. When Mitchell Starc at 36 can spearhead Aussie attack, there is no reason why age should be an issue. Shami did pretty well in New Zealand in 2014 and if he is fit, as last season showed, he should be in the squad.

Siraj is  a certainty and we have plenty of resources in pace to pick the back ups – Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and recent entrants Aquib Dar and Gurnoor Brar.

The spin attack needs a thought too.
Is Jadeja still as lethal as he has been over his long, distinguished career? Does he deserve to be number one choice now?

How about Axar Patel – how can we ignore him with his record in Tests? Should we pick him as the frontline spinner?

Suthar has done well enough to deserve to be in the 16 member squad but is it prudent to play two left armers together.

Then there is question around Yadav - if he is in the scheme of things, he has to be given confidence that he is frontline choice – not the third spinner as he was treated in Sri Lanka.

Saransh Jain should be given an extended run – even if he does not make it into the final 11 in New Zealand.

Batting is much less of a headache.

Rahul, Jaiswal, Gill and Pant are now proven performers in all conditions in Test cricket which provides a large measure of stability to the side.

The only question the selectors need to consider is – should Pant be no 5 or no 6 while no 5 slot is given to a specialist batter. I would suggest he is fixed at no 6.

As highlighted earlier, the two batting slots are yet not frozen – no 3 where Sai and Padikkal are contenders and no 5 where Jurel would be pushed by the likes of Sarfaraz Khan and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Incidentally, if we look at the Ranji record of last season, none of the current names in Tests figures even in top 20 while discards such as Karun Nair and Mayank Agrawal do!!!

However, the New Zealand Test series is in November, 2026 before which there is plenty of white ball action -  3 T20s with Afghanistan in September at home, Asian Games in September -end, 3 ODIs and 5 T20s with the West Indies at home and 5 ODIs and 5 T20s in New Zealand. 

Things may change by the time comes to pick the Test squad for New Zealand.

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