Rahane blames senior players' departure for India's Test decline

There is an old and very long version of cricket called Test cricket, and it is played over several days.

A famous former player named Ajinkya Rahane says India's Test team has not been playing well in the last two years.

Rahane thinks the biggest reason is that the team's most senior and experienced players have been leaving one by one.

He believes a Test team needs about seven or eight senior players to guide and teach the younger ones.

Since India lost the World Test Championship final in 2023, big stars such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin have retired from the format.

In the past two years, India lost Test series to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

Now a young Indian team, captained by Shubman Gill, will play a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

The matches will be held in the Sri Lankan cities of Galle and Colombo in August.

Rahane hopes the new players will learn quickly, because Test cricket needs patience, skill and experience.