India to Test new batting order

India were gearing for life without retired batting stars Rahul Dravid and Venkatsai Laxman as they begin a two-Test series against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Thursday. Dravid bid farewell in March and Laxman called it quits last Saturday, leaving Sachin Tendulkar the only surviving veteran of the golden generation of Indian batsman that included Sourav Ganguly. The main task for India in the busy home season that also features four Tests each against England and Australia is to find replacements for Dravid and Laxman, who had a combined tally of 22,069 Test runs in 298 matches. The batsmen in contention for the two vacant slots, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath, have a combined tally of just 20 Tests. Ajinkya Rahane has yet to debut in the five-day game. India will also miss Dravid and Laxman in the slips. Both were gifted with safe hands with Dravid taking a Test record 210 catches and Laxman 135. “It will be tough to replace Rahul and Laxman not only as batsmen, but also as slip catchers,” Tendulkar said ahead of the first Test. “They were great in that region and to replace them we are going to need someone to be there for an equally long period of time.”