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ShareClubbing Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid together under the category of seniors is unfair, given the contrast in their current form and fitness. It also confuses the issue of selection for the upcoming England Test series.
Sachin Tendulkar might have got just one century in this series. But the importance of his contributions have probably been more than that of many of his 40 centuries.
In Bangalore, his cautious 49 helped see the team through to safety on the last day. In Mohali, his partnership with Ganguly took India to a position of strength from a mini-collapse as Dravid and Laxman fell cheaply after the exit of Gambhir on the first day.
Again in Delhi, he came in to bat with India at 27 for 2 - after Sehwag and Dravid got out early on the first morning - and put on 130 in the first of Gambhir's two big partnerships. And again in the final Test in Nagpur, he came to the crease after two quick wickets as Dravid was out second ball. Sehwag too departed soon afterwards, which made Tendulkar's 40th century one of his more important ones.
Dravid, on the other hand, can't seem to put a foot right. His solitary fifty in the first Test, followed by a series of flops, sticks out even more because this series has been played on the most batting-friendly pitches India has ever laid out.
One can understand one or two being flat, but to have all four pitches for the Tests producing 400 plus scores in the first innings every time is a first. Every batsman in both sides, including the retiring Ganguly, has piled on the runs. All except Dravid, that is.
Dravid's lean patch, if one can call it that any longer, has extended to more than a year now. That's what forced him to give up his captaincy and cost him his place in the one-day side. Now only his past record, with a Test batting average of over 50, is keeping him in the Test team. In the previous three series, he has averaged just about 30. And in this one so far at the end of the first innings in Nagpur, it's below 30.
The second innings therefore should be a make or break innings for him, if objective criteria were to be applied, considering his performance over the past year and the many deserving in-form batsmen waiting in the wings to come into the Indian middle order.
It's also ironic that Ganguly, who announced his retirement at the start of this series, has played with such authority and style, while Dravid has pushed and prodded. Both these players made their debut together in the same Test at Lord's and perhaps it might have been fitting if they had ended their long and distinguished run together in Nagpur.
Ganguly, judging by the way he has played and not just by the number of runs he got against the Aussies, looks like he is retiring without having reached the very end of his capacity to perform at this level. And that's a good thing.
Nothing is so pathetic as to see somebody who has been an iconic player flounder and flop before finally being discarded. Kumble, for instance, has had a far less dignified exit than Ganguly.
For the first time in his career, he failed to get a single wicket in a Test match played in India in spite of bowling as many as 50 overs. He was obviously unfit, and finally had to throw in the towel after a cut in his hand. He did get a big send-off, but that seemed more out of kindness than conviction.
Going forward from here, it will be nice to see new talent vying for the place in the Indian middle order vacated by Ganguly after so many years. Whether another place will open up soon depends on whether Dravid has a second wind left in him. Tendulkar, for instance, went through a lean year or so but he looks more relaxed and in control now.
He does struggle to keep going after a fifty, which was evident in the manner in which he got to his 40th century, and he does struggle to go on the attack, which was evident in the way he failed to clear the fence twice when he stepped out to Krejya.
But there's hardly any doubt that he continues to command a place in the side. Ganguly too had a second wind after being dropped from the side after a prolonged period of non-performance. But that was by dint of going back to domestic cricket and reworking his game. It's too late for Dravid to do that sort of thing.
Laxman's is a borderline case, despite the big scores he's got in this series, because he keeps giving it away after getting set and because he's much more vulnerable now as soon as the wicket has some juice in it. One thing in his favour is that he's not a plodder.
To my mind, the team should induct Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma in place of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, which is precisely what I had suggested at the start of this series and the previous one.
That would leave Laxman and Tendulkar in the side to provide the right mix of experience. In fact, it would be akin to the Australian side which has the experienced Hayden and Ponting batting with Hussey, Katich and Clarke - all twentyfirst century inductions into the team.
