There is a great lack of depth in present day Test cricket

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Maria Sharapova’s victory in the French Open is laudable for a diva coming back after painful injury to hit the high notes again.

Even so, her win in a disparate field suggests that the old depth is just not there in the women’s game. It’s not even what it was a few years ago, with so many different young Slam winners popping up while the Williams sisters took the odd one whenever their mood was in sync with their declining sporting ambition.
Women’s tennis is a bit like the current Test cricket scene in which the one outstanding team of 15 years’ standing deteriorated to join the lesser mortals to level out the playing field. Their Ashes conquerors, England, hit the high road to the top ranking at the expense of Team India. Of the four top teams — England, South Africa, Australia and India — any one of them is capable of getting to the top, but staying there is going to be as difficult as it might be for Maria, the newly crowned Roland Garros champion or her fellow “Ovas” from behind the former Iron Curtain.
There is already a rich sense of anticipation about the clash of the two top rated Test teams, separated by a solitary point in the ICC rankings, in the English summer. The home side, who are so good in their swing and seam conditions, especially with pitches that have some pace in them, are already pining for fast wickets to suit their express bowlers so as to compete on level terms with the Proteas, who are currently the world’s best travelers and who gave India a very hard time on their last two visits simply because they could adjust well cricket-wise to the playing and mentally to the living conditions.
The Australians would have to improve a great deal on their Ashes form if they are to be genuine contenders for the top spot again from which they were displaced by South Africa and then India.
Team India will be beating their breasts whenever they win on the slow pitches at home but unless they can get over their 1-1 series performances that enabled them to stick to the top spot for about 19 months, they cannot genuinely aspire for the No.1 ranking they vacated in such weak fashion in the whitewash in England.
Of course, they do have to first get away from the whitewash disasters of the last season.
The cricket programme is back to its traditional roots with all the action in the England summer while most others take their deserving rest from IPL exertions.
To have no major cricket in June in the subcontinent makes so much sense unlike last year when India hit the road barely four days after the IPL final got over.
Pakistan must find what cricket they can, which is why their tour of Sri Lanka also makes sense although this will stress out some of the top Lankans who were earning their big bucks in the IPL.
It’s Team India that should benefit the most from the break. There was so much criticism in the wake of their tight programme last year that BCCI may have seen the light. A gentle enough resumption in home Tests against New Zealand before swinging back into the scramble for the T20 world championship should see our best players get into rhythm for the ‘revenge’ series against England in the winter.
In a not so deep playing field, there is no reason to believe Team India cannot aspire to get back quickly to the top even if a lot of hard work has to be done first to repair the ageing side.