Is Indian Team ready for a 5+1+5 strategy?

Though I firmly believed that India needed a change in captaincy as far as the longest format of the game is concerned, barring his first test as Captain, I have so far not been impressed with Virat Kohli as captain. 

In his first test as Captain of the Indian Test team, the team lost while trying to chase down a target when they could have safely opted for a draw. The intent was quite visible and it was a welcome change. That loss did not hurt as it does not feel bad when efforts are visible.

It is still quite early days for Kohli as Captain and there is no reason to be too alarmed. However, what is quite worrying is Kohli's preference for 5 specialist bowler strategy. Now, there are no issues with the strategy Per se but Indian team does not seem to be quite ready for that strategy.

Indian team is going through a transition phase and there are several young and inexperienced players in the side. Till a few years back, Indian middle order comprised of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly/Raina/Yuvraj, Laxman followed by Dhoni. Now, we have Sharma, Kohli, Rahane followed by Saha. Definitely not as reliable. None of these batsmen (Kohli included) have a lot of experience in saving and winning test matches and this line-up is likely to struggle against all good bowling sides. 

Following are some issues with the '5 Specialist Bowler' strategy:

1. Wicket Keeper: Saha is quite good behind the stumps but is not a reliable bat. If we play only 5 specialist batsmen (who are young and inexperienced), a couple of wickets may bring Saha on the crease with a job to save a test. I would not put any money on Saha to pull us through. If Kohli wants to stick to 5+1+5 strategy, he needs a better/reliable wicket batsman. The issue is that there are no strong candidates. Naman Ojha had a decent 2014 Ranji season but is not reliable. Uthappa was the leading scorer in the Ranji trophy but his wicket-keeping skills leave a lot of be desired. If he improves, he can be a strong candidate. Dinesh Karthik is quite inconsistent. Parthiv Patel is no longer scoring enough runs in the domestic circuit. Rayudu must not be an option in test cricket. So, it seems that there is no option but to stick with Saha. In that case, we must have 6 specialist batsmen or an all-rounder who can bat really well.
2. The 5 specialist bowlers that India included in the recently concluded (and embarrassingly lost) test match against Srilanka were Ishant, Aaron, Ashwin, Mishra and Harbhajan. Out of these Ashwin is a decent bat. Harbhajan can bat but is far from being reliable. And others are...no comments. For a 5+1+5 strategy to work (and especially with inexperienced batsmen and Saha), the team needs a good bowling all-rounder (That is is where I wish we had an 'in-form' and 'fit' Irrfan Pathan).
3. The other issue is with the choice of pacers. Kohli has been using words like 'aggressive' and 'aggression' in press conferences a lot and he has indicated that he wants pacers who can hit the deck and bowl fast. Again, in theory, there is no problem with that approach but the trouble is that we have Ishant and Aaron. They are both quite one-dimensional bowlers. We need variety and that is why India needs to include Bhuvi (who can also bat a bit) or a fit Shami (god knows what has happened to him).
4. Lastly, there is another issue with the choice of spinners but this issue has nothing to do with the 5+1+5 strategy. Harbhajan Singh has been quite ineffective in the test and he is nowhere near his best. To add variety to the attack, it would make sense to include Pragyan Ojha instead. There were some concerns over Ojha's actions but since he did play against Australia A, he must have been give an all-clear. Herath's success also highlights the value of a good left-arm spinner.

The loss in the last test against Sri Lanka was quite heart-breaking especially when we had an upper-hand in most sessions. I hope Kohli shows some flexibility and better judgement in future matches.