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By Sanjay Rajan
NAGPUR, India, Feb 10 (Reuters) - India need to carefully
groom replacements for their batting "fab four" after suffering
a crushing innings defeat by South Africa on Tuesday, former
captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar said.
Without the experience of Rahul Dravid, Vangipurappu Laxman
and Yuvraj Singh through injury, India struggled to cope with
Dale Steyn's express pace and movement and lost in under four
days.
"The selectors need to look at grooming players," former
test captain Vengsarkar told Reuters on Wednesday, after the
innings-and-six-run defeat.
Dravid, Laxman, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and the
retired Saurav Ganguly contributed more than 38,000 runs as they
formed India's middle order for a decade.
Yuvraj has succeeded Ganguly at six in the order, having
proved himself in the one-day game, but other replacements have
yet to be found.
"That's three big (pairs of) boots to fill in the future,"
said Vengsarkar, who as a former chief selector was instrumental
in India's rise to the number one ranking.
"For that the selectors need to have a vision, foresight and
guts."
Wriddhiman Saha struggled in the middle order during the
first test, contributing 36 runs after being given an unexpected
debut when Rohit Sharma, called up as cover for Laxman,
sustained an injury just before the match.
THE WALL
Subramaniam Badrinath, however, showed promising signs by
scoring a first-innings fifty but he has some way to go to fill
the boots of his illustrious predecessors.
Saha has lost his place in the squad for the second test,
which starts in Kolkata on Sunday, and Dravid and Yuvraj are
ruled out, though Laxman is expected to be fit.
India are bringing in one-day specialist Suresh Raina and
wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, while Badrinath is likely
to get a further chance to stake his claim for a regular test
berth.
"We will miss Rahul, but somebody has to step up and do the
work for the team," Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said of
the team's vital cog ahead of the first test.
Dravid, dubbed 'The Wall' as a tribute to his stonewalling
exploits at the crucial number three slot, has been the rock
around which India formed their famed middle order over the past
decade.
Despite the form of Steyn, Tendulkar hammered his 46th test
century in the second innings to show that the world's highest
run-getter, with more than 13,000 runs, is not ready for
retirement just yet.
Should Badrinath be called upon again he will hope that
Steyn is unable to produce a similar spell of bowling to the one
that gave him a match haul of 10-108, as India tasted their
first test defeat on home soil in almost two years.
Top-ranked India must win the final test to prevent South
Africa claiming the number one position in the world rankings.
(Editing by Patrick Johnston; To query or comment on this
story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) Updated on Wednesday, Feb 10, 2010 6:17 am, EST Email to a Friend | View Popular
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