India, Jan. 10 -- Senior cricket board (BCCI) officials met Centre of Excellence head VVS Laxman in Mumbai on Friday to draw up a future roadmap with pathway programmes for multiple formats, also addressing the recent falling standards of India in Test cricket.

India have lost five of their last seven home Tests, three against New Zealand in late 2024 when seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin were on their last legs, and two more recently against South Africa, where the transitioning home team failed to compete.

While the nitty-gritty of those losses will be discussed later, with the immediate focus of the team management on the upcoming T20 World Cup, a lack of defensive skills at junior levels was marked for improvement...