The Indian top-order consisting of 36-year-old Rohit Sharma, 35-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara and 34-year-old Virat Kohli failed miserably. With the next WTC final scheduled in 2025, experts and fans have called for young players to be inducted for a smooth transitioning of the Indian Test team.
Ravi Shastri has echoed their sentiments and cited the example of Australians who have dealt with their transition period beautifully in the past. The current squad also has a brilliant mix of young and experienced players. On one hand there is Steve Smith, while on the other, there is Marnus Labuschagne, his heir apparent.
“That’s what the think-tank and the selectors will have to sit and see, draw a plan, have the vision to see how you replenish your squad. Australians are very good at doing that over the years. They see where they want to be in three years’ time. They don’t wait for suddenly five players to go away from the side,” Shastri told Star Sports.
“They’re constantly getting in youth. So there’s a combination of youth and experience all the time. The youngsters learn quickly from the senior players. So your team is healthy and strong right through. So that planning has to be done. They’re hard calls, people might not like it, but it’s the team’s interest that is paramount and that’s how you should look at it,” he said.
India captain Rohit Sharma also reflected on the same after the WTC final loss. He said the team would decide the roadmap for the next two years and shortlist players to do the job. He added that it was important to spot domestic talents and give them enough time and space to achieve the big goal.
“Any tournament you play, you start looking at what possibly you can do moving ahead. Honestly, the game just got over. We haven’t really given too much thought to what we want to do in the future,” Rohit said,
“Obviously, there will be some talks around it and we’ll see whatever is required and whatever is best, whatever the brand of cricket we want to play in the next two years.
“And who are the guys who can do that role for us? That is the question that we need to find answers to. And there are a lot of guys, there are a lot of players who are doing really well in our domestic cricket as well. It’s just about finding them and giving them that space, enough time to go forward and do the job for us. It’s all about that. The focus will be obviously on that,” he had added.