India’s lower-order, an X-factor behind recent successes

Indore: India has looked a much better side than Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Test series. The hosts have won the first two Tests comprehensively, but there is a gaping hole in their armoury – a brittle batting order.India has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but a big challenge faces them is to qualify for the ICC Test Championship final. The underperforming middle order has been a bane for India. The big names haven’t delivered the goods, and this has become a big headache for Captain Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli and Chteshwar Pujara have scored a combined 114 runs in this series so far. The top order has not delivered yet in the series. In the three innings they played, Rohit, Kohli, Pujara and KL Rahul have scored 183, 76, 38, 38, respectively and Shreyas Iyer scored 16 in 2 innings.
Except, Rohit no other top order batsman has gotten a half-century, and this has left the lower-order in the lurch, though it has been doing all the heavy-lifting with aplomb. Axar Patel has been outstanding with the bat, while Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichadran Ashwin have lived up to their allrounder tag to perfection. The trio have contributed a combined 314 runs in the series.The lower-order have been India’s saviour for sometime now. In the last two years, they have put their foot down and produced sparkling batting displays, both on home soil and on foreign territory.
In the recent past, the Indian allrounders have been phenomenal with the bat at home. Pant has been at the heart of most of the lower-order rescues, but the likes of Jadeja, Axar, Ashwin and Washington Sundar have played their role to the team.
India’s allrounders have produced 13 fifty-plus stands since 2021, the most by any side. And Sundar has scored 181 in 4 innings, Jadeja (347 in 7), Rishabh Pant (455 in 9), Axar (355 in 12) and Ashwin (406 in 14).
Since 2018, Jadeja is the only allrounder to take more than 50 wickets and average over 40 in Tests. Over the years Team India have been craving for batting depth, and fortunately the allrounders are delivering way better than the biggest batting stars. The Indian fans could see more rescue acts staged by them if the mega stars fail. It might take a while for big stars to come out with flying colours with their bats, but till then the Indian fans could be in for watching Jadeja’s celebrations embellished with his swivelling bat, Ashwin’s extraordinary shots, and of course Mohammad Shami’s towering sixes.