Rohit and Virat exit leaves gaping hole for India's Tests vs England

 MUMBAI: With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli calling time on their Test careers, India will go to England with a drastically inex perienced batting line-up. That is tors go back to unless the selectors go back to  Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara There's nothing to sug gest they will deviate from their policy of looking at the future.

KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant have played nine Tests in England before. Shubman Gill, who is tipped to become the new cap tain, has played three. While this sounds alarming, Indian cricket has been here before. Team tran sitions are constant. The last time India went on an overseas Test tour with a lightweight batting line-up was to South Africa in 2013. 

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were dropped. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar had retired. Only Murali Vijay and Pujara knew what the bounce and lateral movement in South Africa were like from a previous tour. Kohli was only 20 Tests old, Rohit had played two, Rahane one. gang As it turned out. Pujara, Kohli and Rahane emerged as the lead ing scorers of the series. They would become the backbone of India's middle order for the remainder of the last decade.

Two key players whose batting positions the selectors need to firm up are Gill and Rahul Gill began his Test career as an opener, until dropping to No.3, a position of his choice. The one-down spot opened up once Pujara lost favour. The No4 post tion never came into considera tion for Gill as it was Kohli's but ting number. Would that change now? However, Gill has spoken about his liking to face the new ball and being used to bat at No.3 from his time in domestic cricket,

Rahul has been the selectors all-weather resource. It's about time he is given stability and an opportunity to give wings to his underwhelming, stop-start Test career. While he has batted all over the place in ODI cricket, in Tests Rahul has mostly been an opener. Given that's where he delivered some of his most note worthy innings on the last tour of England in 2021-22, he would be an ideal fit to accompany Yashasi Jaiswal at the top.

Tamil Nadu opener Sai Sudharsan, 23, is known to have been marked as a long-term prospect. He would have made his Test debut ahead of Devdutt Padikkal last year if not for an untimely injury. The left-hander, who has county experience with Sur-rey, has been among runs in IPL with Gujarat Titans and is expected to be selected.

Whether Sudharsan starts depends on the batting order Gambhir and the selectors have in mind. The other option is for Gill to slot into No.4 and Sudhar san to bat at No.3. Or Rahul can bat at four and Jaiswal and Sudharsan open. All these per mutations will be discussed as the selectors search for options to fill the void left behind by India's two batting heroes.