After a close finish in the first Test and a one-sided defeat at Lord’s, it might have been difficult to tell which was the aberration from India’s point of view. Was it the good cricket or the bad one?
With the threat of a 5-0 thrashing looming, India have picked themselves up. It has been extraordinary, the manner in which the team has done this. India needed two Tests to become the team they are reputed to be – there is a lesson here for those who believe that a casual knockabout involving all the players is what constitutes ideal preparation for English conditions.
It was clear before the third Test began that England were not as good a team nor India as bad a team as the first two Tests, especially the second, had suggested.
The tide turns
All losing teams, like Tolstoy’s happy families, are alike. When India were losing in the two previous series here, their fabled batting struggled, catches were dropped at slip, there was seldom good bowling consistently from both ends, and to add to that players were injured. Luck too seemed to be on the side of the winning team, as it usually is.
At Trent Bridge, all of a sudden it was England who were struggling. They lost all ten wickets in a single session. It was the English slip fielders who dropped catches, seven of them. And it was their leading batsman, Jonny Bairstow who was injured. India have had all the luck.
But — and this is the essential lesson for India from here — India have made their own luck. Skipper Virat Kohli did not let things slide, but grabbed the competition by the scruff of the neck. His own batting has placed him on a pedestal few have occupied in recent years as the best all-round batsman in the game, which means whatever the format, he is at the top. He is batting with a control and purpose that has already elevated his performance above anyone else’s from either team.
Emulating the skipper
The difference in the third Test was that his teammates followed suit. There were some minor adjustments in technique — playing straight and playing late — and a major one in approach, the decision to hang on regardless. It meant occasionally looking less than graceful or perfect, occasionally letting the bowler take charge, but at all times being conscious of preserving wickets.
If Murali Vijay was the symbol of the Lord’s batting, Cheteshwar Pujara embodied the approach at Trent Bridge. He was in no hurry, he was safe, and he took charge in phases. It wasn’t domination he was looking for so much as grinding it out and making the bowlers regret their choice of profession. His value to the batting line up is immense if under-appreciated. When he bats you know you are watching Test cricket, with its peculiar rhythms, character and maturity.
Pandya proves a point
When India had worked things out to such a pitch, heroes emerged easily. Perhaps sick and tired of those calling him a bits and pieces cricketer, Hardik Pandya decided the time had come to apply for the post of allrounder with performance rather than potential.
He used the English conditions better than the English bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah’s second five-for came in only his fourth Test. A new generation of fast bowlers is evolving before our eyes.
It is too early to see the third Test as the turning point in the manner the Headingley Test of 2002 was. On that occasion, India won the toss and batted in conditions favourable to swing and seam, made over 600 runs and won by an innings.
Nine Indian captains out of ten would have bowled first as much to use the conditions as to protect themselves from the opponents’ seamers. The tenth, Sourav Ganguly, set India on the road to India becoming the No. 1 team in the world.
But that rating has — and continues to be — built as much on performance as on carefully chosen series. Rather like ageing heavyweight boxing champions choosing their opponents, India protected their ranking thus.
Perform under all conditions
Neither in that cycle nor now (when India retain their No. 1 status whatever the series result here), were series won in either Australia or South Africa. Perhaps these anomalies will be sorted out once the World Test championship cycle commences after the World Cup next year. One expects champion teams to be champions in all conditions.
From a side of no-hopers a week ago, India have emerged as a young all-round team ready to carry all before them.
The future is already forming: K.L. Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant have hinted at this. Kohli himself is only 29, and has put his demons to rest in England; it is as important a development as any for Indian cricket on this tour.
