Can India's 'Big Three' redeem themselves after seismic defeat during WTC final?

Virat Kohli Cheteshwar Pujara Rohit Sharma The holy trinity has given Indian fans joyous moments over the years but how future ready is Indias Test batting as the trio is ready for their last danceThe seismic defeat at the hands of Australia at the Oval made it mandatory for the bigwigs to search for a solution to that question Its nowThe failure of Pujara to kick on against Australia is severely hurting as he was perceived to be in fine fettle after his exploits with Sussex in the County CricketPujaras last memorable innings remains that 77 against Australia in Sydney in 2021 and if we take out a 90 and 102 against Bangladesh at Chattogram in 2022 the cupboard has a bare lookIn fact Pujara has played 17 Tests in the 20212023 WTC cycle and made 928 runs at an average of 32 with a solitary hundred a record so underwhelming for a teams No 3So who is our next No 3 India tried Hanuma Vihari at that position during the home series against Sri Lanka in early 2022 and he returned with one fifty in 3 inningsAlso Read WTC Final I fail to understand the exclusion of Ashwin says Tendulkar after Indias defeatBut that plan seemed to have shelved for the time being after Pujara returned to the side during the tour to Bangladesh later that year We dont seem to have another option anywhere around the corner at the momentHowever Indias headache is not restricted to No 3 as it trickles down to No 4 as well a position that belongs to modernday great in KohliFew other batsmen in the last decade have dominated the bowlers with Kohlis arrogance but now just the facade remains as he struggles to build those edifices in Test cricketHe seemed to have found his range in white ball formats but India need more of Kohli the Test batsman when they hit the next WTC cycle 202325 during the tour to the West Indies next monthIn the just concluded WTC cycle Kohli made 932 runs from 17 Tests averaging 3213 with solitary hundred a 186 against Australia earlier this year at Ahmedabad But to be fair the Ahmedabad track was one of the flattest featherbeds in recent yearsKohlis away average in same period dipped to 2843 with no hundredSo who is our next No 4 batter We can think of Shyreas Iyer who is currently injured to step in for Kohli at some stage but the Mumbaikar still has to prove himself as an allweather batsmanIyer also will have to sort out his distaste for shortpitched balls angled into his body often leaving him in tangles but he seems more of a choice as No5 batterSarfaraz Khan had an excellent domestic run last season but the talk in Indian cricket circles is about his questionable technique against high quality fast bowling Anything above medium pace hasnt exactly been Sarfarazs cup of tea and he is more of a domestic run accumulatorAlso Sarfaraz was given at least seven India A Test matches and he failed to score even one hundredOften Rohit Sharmas name will not come rushing into your mind during the discussions about Indias Test batting greats despite him appearing in 50 matches But India captain offered a success story in the last WTC segmentRohit appeared in 11 Tests amassing 758 runs at 4211 with two centuries His away record too has been significantly better compared to the home numbers during this period averaging 5257 as against 3688 But at 36 can he last till 2025We have Shubman Gill at one end ready to carry on the mantle but what about his partnerIndia seemed to have unearthed a reasonable longterm option in Mayank Agarwal but he has not played a Test since he second Test against Sri Lanka at Bengaluru last yearAbhimanyu Easwaran a technically sound opener seemed to have ebbed away for now and the powers that be will have to watch Yashasvi Jaiswals performance in domestic matchesIts imperative too because India have important tours coming up India are scheduled to host England in early 2024 before travelling to Australia and England will return in 2025The team cannot be left on the crutches as those trips will have a bearing on Indias WTC ambitionsWith PTI inputs