Try to imagine this: You add a new batsman to the team and then allow him to play 8 Tests. He is out for a golden duck twice and makes a total of 297 runs at an average of 21 runs per Test. Or take another batsman who plays 10 Tests scoring a grand total of 324 runs at an average of 18 runs per Test. Would you retain these two batsman in your team? 

The two batsmen are Hayden and Dravid respectively. And because their names are Hayden and Dravid, they are still in the Australian and Indian teams. If they were debutants, they would have been dropped after the first few innings, even perhaps after their first Test. And the reason is obvious: These are proven batsmen going through a bad phase and you need to give them some time to work through whatever issues they are facing.

But this brings about a dilemma: How much time should you give them? And are you willing to risk a few losses while you are waiting? The problem is, of course, you don’t know if a player is in a slump until they miss out on 4-5 consecutive Tests. It is also not evident if the slump starts in the middle of a series (in which the player had started out strongly).

The best case scenario is that the batsman finally recovers his groove and starts making significant scores, thus repaying the faith of the selectors. Unfortunately, it can also happen that the player just makes enough not to get kicked out of the team. For example, Dravid made a century after his 10-Test drought, thus quieting his critics for a while. But in his next innings, he got out for a zero after blocking 19 balls. Apparently, whatever form he had in his first innings did not last long enough.

This kind of situation where a player has an extended run in the Test side despite mediocre output is very bad for the long-term health of the team. You don’t get the chance to introduce new players and provide them enough exposure. And older players in your first-class leagues never get called to the international team, providing you less of a backup in the case of injuries, which are increasing in these days of heavy cricket schedules.