Clock ticking for India’s veterans

PERTH — Indian captain M S Dhoni admitted pressure was mounting on his team's star batsmen after yet another double failure by their ageing top order in the third Test at the Waca Ground.

Dhoni, speaking after his side was dismissed for 161 and 171 in the third Test to go 3-0 down in the four-match series, said he expected gradual change to the line-up after India's second successive innings defeat.

With the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, it has been a lean tour for India's celebrated top order and Dhoni said the time was looming when India would need to start exposing some younger batsmen to Test cricket.

V V S Laxman, 37, has scored just 102 runs at 17 in the series and is under pressure to retain his spot for the final Test in Adelaide, with 24-year-old Rohit Sharma pressing for a Test debut after being 12th man in Perth.

Opener Virender Sehwag, 33, has 118 runs at 19.66 and 39-year-old Rahul Dravid has scored 168 runs at 28.

It was youngster Virat Kohli who offered most resistance in the third Test, topscoring in both innings in his seventh Test.

"Once the number of matches increase where you haven’t scored as a batting unit, the pressure keeps mounting," Dhoni said of his veterans. "If you see last couple of series, they haven’t done well but it’s to their averages and amount of runs they have scored that they have not done well. At the same time they must be feeling the pressure but it is very common to them, throughout their career they have faced that kind of pressure."

Dhoni said there was young talent waiting in India and he expects it to start being phased into the side after the current Test series.

He understands the push for youth, but said it needed to be a carefully considered generational change.