England great Nasser Hussain has listed a number of issues that the Indian Test side will need to improve if they want to end their trophy drought in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). India have reached the final in the previous two cycles but lost to New Zealand in 2021 and then Australia in 2023.
The former England skipper lauded Team India and their form at home in Tests but their away form has been a great concern for the side.
After their loss to Australia in the WTC final, India faced West Indies and beat them 1-0 in the Caribbean. Before this, they played some excellent cricket in Bangladesh at the end of 2022 but overall in the 2021-23 cycle, India's performance away from home has been poor.
Hussain discussed the balance of India's Test side with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of The ICC Review and the former England captain believes when playing at home India has the right blend of players to continue to prosper.
"They are brilliant at home...and the balance of their side at home is just wonderful. They've got senior players like Rohit (Sharma) and obviously Virat (Kohli) and they are just world-class players and they've got youngsters coming in, like Shubman (Gill), who's going to be a superstar," Hussain said.
"If Jasprit (Bumrah) can come back as well, one of the great multi-format bowlers there is at the moment, if not the best, when fit. So, they've got those senior players and youngsters, and with the ball in India, those three all-rounders, and they are genuine all-rounders in India - Axar (Patel), (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin. That, for me, is a really balanced side because then you've got a No.7."
He also wants India to have a pacer all-rounder in the team to give them the perfect balance, taking the example of someone like Cameron Green and Ben Stokes.
"An Indian cricketer at the moment, a (Ben) Stokes type cricketer, a Cameron Green type cricketer, a Mitchell Marsh type cricketer, a batter at No.6 or No.7, away from home, that can bowl you 10 or 15 overs of genuine wicket-taking seam and swing, not a bowler who bats a bit, a batter who can give you 10 overs of seam bowling, and then that balance away from home makes them formidable."
Hussain also heaped praise on India's top order, especially young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who, he believes, can build on the impressive start to his Test career.
"From what I've seen...he's made a fantastic start. You speak to people who have seen him in the IPL, again I've been working with Ricky (Ponting) and Dinesh (Karthik) came over, and you ask questions, and they all go, yeah, this lad can play," Hussain noted.
"He looks to have the technique and he looks to have that mindset. Like most young Indian players and batters in particular, most of them come in and have immediate success. And that is a good sign for first-class cricket, that they are being produced, not just the IPL.
"I've watched so many young Indian batters come in and I look at them and think, technically they look very gifted because they've been brought up on watching Rohit or watching Virat or watching before that, you know, Virat's watched Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sachin's watched Sunil (Gavaskar)," he said.
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