Young, hungry, sprightly and ready to move into the league of big men called Test cricket, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina certainly ring a bell in India's cricket corridors. While that excites an Indian fan, Yuvraj Singh's axing from the Test squad is – contrary to some conceptions – sombre, because it more or less confirms that Yuvraj has reached a crossroads in his career.
The time, if it had not already dawned on him, has come for Yuvraj to realise that his mojo lies in limited-overs cricket, just like Sunil Gavaskar's was in Tests. Just as we remember Gavaskar for his achievements in Test cricket, so too shall we remember Yuvraj as a one-day specialist. And there is nothing wrong in that.
We do not know Yuvraj's thought process, but from his quotes we know he certainly he wants to be a Test cricketer. That he is one, a very average one at best, is what Yuvraj needs to accept. He needs to move on. Move on and hit six consecutive sixes again and deliver another World Cup Man-of-the-Series performance. That's where he belongs. He has to understand that.
Looking at Rohit, it is apparent that he is standing in a queue behind Kohli and ahead and Raina, not part of the current Test squad. However, since he has yet to play a Test or cement his place in India's limited-overs squads, Rohit is actually farthest behind. Two consecutive hundreds in the ongoing Ranji season drew attention and paved his way into the Indian dressing room. But while he apparently is in top form, his ODI career – still a pendulum after he made his debut in 2007 – should act as a ready reckoner for the do's and don'ts of Test cricket.
Kohli, who is in direct competition with Rohit for a place in the final XI for the third Test against West Indies, has a point to prove as well. With just 76 runs at 15.20 from three matches, he doesn’t exude much confidence as a Test batsman, which – like Yuvraj – is in striking contrast with his one-day record, which reads 2617 runs in 69 matches at an average of 45.91, including seven hundreds and 17 fifties. So while he is in the Test team all right, Kohli can't be assured of a ticket to Australia just as yet, especially with Rohit and Raina close on his heels.
Like Kohli (23) and Rohit (24), the 24-year-old Raina too has age on his side. Though he had the best possible start to his Test career with a century on debut, the tour to England shook him. In England he learned that Test cricket is as much about technique as scoring runs. He was caught hopping against the English bowlers, which eventually ejected him out of the squad. Fourteen matches have passed since his first Test century, and six half-centuries and an average of 29.58 hasn't commanded Raina a regular place in the Test team.
So of the four batsmen who are tipped to be the future of India's middle order in Tests once the big guns phase out, Yuvraj has the door slammed on his face, Rohit hasn't debuted yet, Raina has a susceptible technique and Kohli is trying to find his feet. It's almost conclusive that Yuvraj won't feature in India's scheme of things in Test cricket. And the thought that the other three too may wander into the same territory is frightening and threatens to have disastrous consequences for the middle order. Yuvraj was 22 when he made his Test debut in 2003 and how his Test career graph has hit more valleys than peaks since then is a lesson for every aspiring batsman.
