Something happened in Kolkata that hadn’t happened in 261 Tests at home before that. No Indian spinner took a wicket. The two Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, bowled only ten overs as medium pacers claimed all 17 wickets that fell. Kolkata has provided turning points in Indian cricket before, and we might have just seen another (such things, of course, are confirmed only in retrospect).
What is significant is India’s changed mindset. The plan is not just to win, but to get familiar with likely conditions abroad. It is a sea change in attitude.
India are preparing for their next series in South Africa and England if the Eden Gardens track was any indication. There has traditionally been swing for the medium pacers here, but now there was seam at the start and reverse swing too as the Test drew to an exciting close. Spinners were as much spectators as those cheering from the stands.
This might be an over-interpretation, of course. Perhaps Kolkata was an aberration, and it will be back to spinning tracks at Nagpur and Delhi in the remaining Tests. Yet something the players have been saying of late suggests that unlike earlier teams, this one looks to the future rather than wallow in the past.
“Obviously,” said opener K L Rahul at the final press conference in Kolkata, “we are preparing for the next two years when we play a lot of cricket overseas, and we are going to find wickets like this. It is going to be challenging for all of us, so we wanted to prepare in that way.”
Skipper Virat Kohli has indicated often enough that he hopes to have a team that will adapt to the conditions rather than tailoring the conditions to suit the team. This is the change in the mindset, and why the Kolkata draw could be a starting point for a new India.
It might also be another pointer to the fact that it is the Indian captain who is calling the shots, which in this instance, is good for the team. Victory is important, but not a restricted victory in home-spun conditions. In 2009, when India first became the No.1 Test side in the world, they did so thanks to clever scheduling more than all-round performances everywhere. They hadn’t won a series in Sri Lanka, Australia or South Africa.
India calculated then that the best way to go forward was to ignore defeats, however miserable abroad, secure in the knowledge that there would be enough home wins to raise public confidence in the team once again. Spinning out the opposition in dust bowls across the country was seen as the inevitable consequence of this short-sighted policy.
It was in Kolkata five years ago that Kohli’s predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni got into a tangle with the groundsman, the late Probir Sen when he insisted on having a rank turner to play England. Sen called the request (or demand) “immoral”. It was one of the few cases of a curator standing up to an Indian captain. Reverse swing played a major role then, with James Anderson standing out as England won the Test en route to their first series triumph in India in 28 years.
Of the 17 Tests India have played in South Africa, they have won just two, both on the back of medium pace. At Johannesburg in 2006, medium pacers claimed 14 wickets, and in Durban four years later, 12. India’s last win in England, at Lord’s three years ago, was made possible by Ishant Sharma’s 7 for 72 in the second innings, after Bhuvaneswar Kumar had claimed six in the first.
From the first tour in 1992, South Africa have been preparing wickets smug in the knowledge that they had the better fast bowlers, and more of them too. Javagal Srinath and later Zaheer Khan lacked consistent support to discourage them.
Now India have a bunch of bowlers who not only bowl above 140 kmph but are also adept at reverse swing. With experience, they have added to their armoury. Bhuvaneswar Kumar, for instance, is pacier, and far fitter than he was in 2014 when he tired easily. Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma have the opportunity to hunt as a pack; that’s something almost un-Indian and was certainly unthinkable a generation ago.
But it is one thing to have such bowling, another to have a batting line-up that can overcome a similar threat from the opposition. India’s capitulation to Suranga Lakmal when play finally started in the Kolkata Test showed that any plan must include proficiency in all departments of the game. Bowling the opposition out is only one half of the game; batsmen have to walk through the door bowlers open.
This Indian team probably has the most like-for-like choices than any in the past. They also have the luxury of having a team for home conditions as distinct from one chosen specifically for away matches. The key, of course, is to choose wisely.
