The summit reached - Who will keep us there?

Most of the country seems to be in a celebration mode ever since India reached the summit after the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka. There is no taking away credit from a good squad with lots of positives from all departments on showcase...

One must, however, also consider the tricky situation the team put itself in.

On the bowling front, there isn't (atleast right now) too much cause for concern. The fast bowling department seems to be filled with good performers, both on the field and off it in the domestic circuit. The spin department also has a couple of good options and hopefully they can be fine tuned in the next couple of years (assuming Harbhajan is fit and in form for that time, he can guide the newcomers).

On the batting front, its all to clear that there is a major roadblock ahead.

By the time India play a test match of real importance, Sachin will be almost 37. Dravid will definately be 37 and VVS will be 36 years of age.. The opening partnership has a good few years ahead of them (and, as Murali Vijay showed, there is some cover for that department too). Yuvraj, on the other hand, has only recently started to cement his place in the test squad (more by chance than by choice, one might comment). So, the middle order conundrum that the selectors might be faced with (if not next year, then definately in 2 years' time) is definitely something that a fan needs to be concerned about. There are a few players in the domestic circuit who could make an attempt to fill in the gaps but what they are seriously missing is some time at the middle.

I believe that one good way of grooming talent is mentoring. Even now, its not too late to have a process in place whereby players like Pujara, Vijay and Rohit Sharma get to go on tour and one by one get some chance to fine tune their skills. If, on the other hand, the powers-that-be stick to the current squad and, in a few years time, if a batch of youngsters are not able to perform, come up with some lame excuse, it would be a shame. We have already seen what happened to the "mighty" Aussies when they lost all those players in a hurry (luckily for them, they had Hussey, Clarke and Ponting and the impact isn't that much).

It is also paramount that Yuvraj starts getting more consistent so that when it is time for the "Holy Trinity" to retire, he can be there to guide the next gen. The openers' slot, the wicketkeeper's slot and that of the bowlers is not that big a concern.

In the end, I guess victory (in this case, the #1 test ranking) always comes at a cost. Whether the cost is a little too steep this time, only time will tell.