Now ask what Sachin can do for the team

“This is what happens when you are part of a losing outfit”. It was surreal to hear an Indian TV commentator make this excuse for Sachin Tendulkar’s repeated failures Down Under. It also underscored a core problem with Indian cricket currently — the establishment seems more concerned about propping up their fading star attractions than figuring out how to field a team that will not put India to shame with innings defeat after innings defeat on foreign soil.

Maybe that commentator can take a cue from John F Kennedy’s speech and find a new way forward. The time has come to ask not what the team can do for Sachin, but ask what Sachin can do for the team.

Can he open the innings, for example?  This will simultaneously solve three problems for the Test team: Sehwag can go to the middle order where he really belongs, the opening partnership may do better than the sub-20 average it has had in recent times, and an extra spot will open up in the middle order to groom new batting talent.

For almost a decade, until the exit of Ganguly, you could only get into the Test batting line-up if you were prepared to convert yourself into an opener. Sehwag was a victim of this, and even though his natural talent and some easy batting tracks made him a success in spite of this, the lack of footwork as an opener now stands badly exposed on grassy tracks.

It’s time to set this right. Sehwag himself has said more than once that given a choice he would be happier to play in the middle order. From the team’s point of view too, Sehwag is a more dangerous proposition for the opposing team these days than Sachin. It’s strange that a batsman who has two triple centuries to his name, and recently hit the highest ever one-day score, is exposed to the new ball instead of being given the pride of place in the batting order which is surely overdue for him.

For Sachin too, the opening slot may not be a bad thing even though it will require some adjustment. He does open in ODIs and for Mumbai Indians, he has better defensive technique than Sehwag, and he might be better off coming out to bat straightaway instead of sitting in the dressing room and brooding over his milestone.

So, even though there is now finally a clamour for Laxman and Dravid to make way for new talent in the middle order, and a review of the selection, captaincy and coaching, there also needs to be a fundamental shift in mindset from a star fixation to what is practical and good for the team both in the current scenario and in the future.

India does not play an away series of Tests for two years after this. It would be easy to fall back to our familiar ways because there is little doubt that Sachin, Dravid and even Laxman will do well enough against New Zealand on home soil six months down the line. The point is that unless the seniors are really setting the stage alight, India would do better to give opportunities to new talent in the middle order to develop as Test batsmen, because surely Raina, Rohit, Pujara and others too can notch up the fifties that Sachin scored in the recent series at home against the Windies.

Whatever ‘corrective measures’ the board and selectors might take following the debacle in Australia will not work unless they also address the core problem that is Sachin and his milestone, which is becoming a millstone around the neck of the Indian middle order.

For years, Sehwag has been the one making sacrifices; he would probably have had a few more triple centuries and a sixty plus Test batting average if he had played in the middle order. Now the time has come for Sachin to return the compliment, and give Sehwag what’s his due: the prime No.4 slot in the batting order.

Proven talent like Kohli and Rohit can play either side of Sehwag, while the No.6 position can be used to try out new talent. And perhaps a year down the line, Sachin can make way for a new opener.