"There comes a time in every man's life where he has to give something up." So said that greatest of men, Sir Garfield Sobers, earlier this year. Judging when that time is can mean the difference between going out on top, or tarnishing your hard-earned reputation.

Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have served the Indian cricket team magnificently, contributing to a golden age for that country's batting. Yet undeniably, they are an ageing quartet. The average age of India's top six in the recently-concluded Lord's Test was 31 - even allowing for 22- year-old Dinesh Karthik. The equivalent number for England was 27.83, a batting order slowly approaching its prime.

It would be foolish to advocate wholesale changes to the INdian line-up at this time, but India could well be storing up future problems. In the mid-80s the Australian team lost its heart and engine room with the triple retirement of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rod Marsh. It took them years to recover, and they could find themselves experiencing a spot of deja vu with the surfeit of post-Ashes retirements. If they are not careful, India too could face a number of retirements in a short space of time.

'With Kaif, it seems that after every century a string of single-figure scores are sure to follow'


So why has no young and talented batsman displaced one of the grand masters for good? While Ganguly was out of the team following Chappell-gate, the young pretenders had their chance to shine and ensure the former captain never returned to the team. None of them ever grabbed the chance but neither did they fail; instead they returned solid if unspectacular performances. Perhaps the capricious Indian selectors are guilty of looking for the new Tendulkar when one is simply not there.

At one point the heavy mantle of middle-order expectation was firmly draped around Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif. It's hard to forget their brilliant efforts in winning India the one-day series at Lord's in 2002: both hit half centuries at well above a run-a-ball, putting their failing senior partners completely in the shade. Yuvraj, in particular, seemed to have near-limitless potential, soon established himself in the ODI line-up and later walked into the Test team during Ganguly's acrimonious sabbatical.

But following a poor tour of the West Indies in 2006 he was dropped and hasn't returned. Questions remain about Yuvraj's mental strength and commitment, but he can't answer them from where he is confined in the dressing room.

Kaif has been afflicted - much like Laxman - with great inconsistencies: it seems that after every century a string of single-figure scores are sure to follow. It was a horrible patch of just 27 runs in eight ODIs in 2005-6 that may have left Kaif in the farthest recesses of the selectors' minds.

The story is a similar one for Suresh Raina, fast-tracked into the full side after sweeping all before him at U-19 level and dropped unceremoniously after little more than a year in the ODI team. At just 20, he will undoubtedly return to make his Test debut, but he will need to be armed with the selectors' full backing.

The case of the openers is perhaps the strangest: Wasim Jaffer and young Karthik are the incumbents, whilst Gautam Gambhir and the enigmatic Virender Sehwag watch from the sidelines. Karthik has proved himself worthy of a place but there is nothing to show he cannot have equal success from down the order rather than the opener's role which he is unused to. Gambhir has done little wrong whilst playing for his country, and at 25 could have a bright future ahead. The dropping of Sehwag was a sad event; yes, he was in woefully poor form, but this is still a man with a Test average of 49.

Youth can flourish in Test cricket, and the Indian selectors of all people should know that. But what youth needs in order to flourish is an extended opportunity given with patience, confidence and faith. Before the 2005 Ashes England took the bold move of dropping Graham Thorpe in favour of the confident young Kevin Pietersen. With Pietersen the returns were instant, but with others time is needed: it took VVS Laxman 20 Tests to push his batting average up above 30. The Indian selectors would do well to take note of this, and just maybe it is time for one of the Golden Four to step graciously aside.