Calcutta: Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s overseas Test record as a captain, of late, has not been stupendous. With Sunday’s heavy Perth defeat — by an innings and 37 runs — Dhoni, the 2011 World Cup-winning captain, has now lost seven overseas Tests on the trot.

But even then India do not have an option beyond Dhoni as the captain, feels Sunil Gavaskar. Speaking to a television channel, the former skipper said that at present, there is no one “good enough” to replace Dhoni.

Asked if India would miss Dhoni in the Adelaide Test, the fourth and final one of the ongoing series, after he was banned for a match for his team’s slow over-rate, Gavaskar said: “The team won’t miss him as a batsman. He has not been much successful in his batting (overseas) with the strong bottom hand that he employs to bat. So, probably, in England and Australia he will never be consistent…

“But, as a leader, he will be missed despite the fact that his record is not good. At the moment, I can’t think of anyone who is good enough to take over from Dhoni.”

According to Gavaskar, India’s debacle is because of under-performance in all the departments. “I think the problem, basically, has been that the whole team has under-performed… The batsmen haven’t scored the number of runs that they normally do… Maybe they have done it on much easier pitches to bat on. The bowlers certainly have not bowled as well as they could have.

“They certainly did not bowl anything to trouble the Australians… Because, normally, what happens in games like this is that you have to bowl in different conditions and have to vary your line and length. When you are playing in the same match and you see that the opposition bowlers succeeding by bowling a particular line and particular length, then you try to bowl the same line and length to the opponent batsmen. But that didn’t happen.”

“Therefore, we were not able to contain the Australians despite getting three early wickets in every single innings but the first Test where the Australians got off to a double century partnership.”

On the much-debated phase-out-the-seniors issue, Gavaskar was of the view that it isn’t the time to hit the panic button. “I think we must not press the panic button… But what we really need to do is that we should look at the schedules that we have and look at the first-class structure that we have.

“We need to look at the pitches that we prepare. These are very essential aspects which we need to look at. We also need to be very choosy about our junior selection committee because that is where the talent is. I think we need guys who know what it means to struggle at the under-19 level and make the break at Test level,” he said.