Chennai, September 16
As India prepares for the first Test against Bangladesh, Indian cricket fans will be eager for the top order batsmen in the team to arrest collective slide in their form, which has seen the averages and centuries decline markedly from the 2016-2020 period to the time span from the year 2021.
The two-match series between India and Bangladesh will kick off on September 19 in Chennai at the MA Chidambaram Stadium with the second long-format game scheduled to start on September 27 in Kanpur. In his first Test assignment, head coach Gautam Gambhir will be keen on securing a series win.
Looking at the batting averages of the top-seven batters of India and visiting teams on Indian surfaces in Tests, there is a huge difference statistically in the time periods 2016-2020 and 2021-present day.
In the 2016-2020 span, the batting average of top-seven Indian batters was collectively 54.43 and they took 6.9 innings per century. During the same time period, the batting average of top-seven batters of visiting countries was collectively 28.51, with them taking 19.6 innings per century.
But a big change was noticed from 2021. From this year, the batting average of India's top-seven declined to 38.30, with them taking 13.1 innings per century. For overseas top-seven batters, averages declined to 26.12, with the batters taking 33 innings per century, as per ESPNCricinfo.
The batting averages of several big top-order/middle-order Indian batters have declined at home in recent years. Among the players in squad: Virat Kohli (average of 86.17 in 22 Tests with 10 centuries in 2016-2020 to average of 34.47 in 11 Tests with one century from 2021 onwards), KL Rahul (average of 44.25 in 14 Tests with a century from 2016-2020 to an average of 29.20 in three Tests with zero centuries from 2021), and skipper Rohit Sharma (average of 101.20 in 10 Tests with four centuries to an average of 44.87 with four centuries in 15 Tests) have witnessed some sharp declines.
The declines of middle-order batters Cheteshwar Pujara (average of 56.85 in 24 Tests with five tons from 2016-2020 to average of 24.53 in 10 Tests with zero centuries from 2021) and Ajinkya Rahane (average of 39.32 in 22 Tests with two centuries from 2016-2020 to average of 18.87 in five Tests with zero centuries from 2021) at home may have contributed to their not finding a place in the team. Young players like Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal have made a place for themselves through their performance.
The Indian batters have apparently struggled against spin.
From 2016-2020, India's top-seven batters averaged 63.36 against spin at home, with 103.7 balls per dismissal. After 2021-onwards, India's top-seven's average against spin has declined to 37.56, with balls per dismissal being 64.4. During this time, dismissal of India's top seven against spin also increased from 110 to 134.
However, India's game against pace at home has been largely consistent, with very little decline. The top-seven of Team India averaged 47.36 against pace from 2016-2020, with 85.6 balls per dismissals. This average faced a very little decline from 2021, coming to an average of 45.79, with 83.8 balls per dismissal. In the first time phase, India's dismissals against pace were 108, but later on from 2021 onwards, they were just 44 in total.
India have not lost a series at home since 2014 and bowlers have contributed to the success in a large measure.
For Rohit Sharma's side, this series against Bangladesh will be followed by New Zealand's tour of India for three Tests starting from October 16, and then the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia from November 22.
India's squad for the 1st Test against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.