Ajay Shankar reports on the best prospects for replacing Sourav Ganguly. He finds four possible players: Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, and M. Vijay. Each one has his faults, but the biggest for all (except Vijay, who’s still too new at the scene for proper assessment) is their lack of consistency.
This also strikes me as the biggest loss the Indian team will face once the Fab Four — uh, Three — go into the sunset. This middle order has given us runs, but it has given us (and each other) peace of mind. It’s entirely possible that the Indian team will smoothly move away to a more team-centered approach, rather than the Big Man model that assembled itself in the 2000s, but the reassuring brand of the Laxman-Dravid-Tendulkar-Ganguly will be hard to replace for several years.
But keep an eye out on all these lads: once Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar themselves decide to go, I’ll bet these ones will step in their places.
Ducking Beamers: A Cricket Blog 
I hope batting becomes incidental when we speak of the next great Indian team ( like bowling has been for all this while)..
Our strength today is our bowling – the depth and variety we possess is second to none ( and given the ages of the pacers/spinners, they are in it for the long haul).
The batsmen’s role should be limited to giving their bowlers a total to defend or to score 1 more run than the opposition. I think we have that ability so it should be a fun ride!
Cheers,
PS – Having a solid opening pair doesnt hurt either ( unlike when the FAB 4 ruled)