The preparation for taming the Kangaroos in their backyard may have begun a year back as mentioned by Virat Kohli during press conferences but the premise for it was set in the 2014-15 series down under in the Adelaide test. Kohli, fresh into the role of captain had slammed centuries in both innings of the test and had single-handedly took the team to the cusp of an unbelievable victory. In the post series press conference he had lamented about the lack of bowlers with enough fire to finish what he can start with his bat. The gauntlet had been thrown at that moment. The hunt to complement his batting abilities with the ball on foreign soil had begun in 2014.
It took two years from there to unearth the gem called Jasprit Bumrah. When his vast potential was realized by the BCCI, he was immediately cocooned and bred for test matches (red ball cricket). As soon as he went missing from the one day internationals prior to the away series in South Africa, I immediately understood that he was going to be in the test team. All that was left to do was to see what he was going to do and boy, did he deliver. Five wickets in an innings in South Africa, England and Australia, in consecutive series in the calendar year. The Virat Kohli with the ball has finally arrived and with it India has finally cracked the code of consistently taking 20 wickets in test matches abroad. All that the team needed was a wicket preying monster who could be used in decisive short spells and the other bowlers has rallied splendidly around him.
It is South Africa and not Australia that has been India’s final frontier from the time of their reinstatement to international cricket in 1992. Australia was obviously weakened by the banned absence of Steven Smith and David Warner but they were disappointing in two aspects 1) There were no other batsmen who even remotely tried to step in and fill their shoes in spite of having one of the best domestic cricket leagues in the world 2) Their much vaunted 3 pronged pace attack flattered to deceive. Pat Cummins, their best bowler of the series had to resort to negative bodyline attack to extract Indian wickets.
After hard fought losses in South Africa and England, India reached the shores of Australia as a well oiled cohesive unit. It has been the Aussie strategy, especially during the captaincy of Steve Waugh to put huge first innings scores and then strangle their opponents. This was the first time Aussies found themselves at the other side of the rope. Kohli was in imperious form throughout the series of South Africa and England and as the Aussie bowlers put their full focus on containing him, Cheteshwar Pujara strode out silently on the side and ground Aussie bowlers to dust. By the time the series was finished, he had faced more than double the number of balls faced any other batsman and had scored double the number the runs than the next best batsman on both sides. If there was one stand out factor in the series, it was his ability to drop anchor at his no. 3 position, make the Aussies toil with their bowling and keep them on the ground frustrated for long times. It was test match batting at it’s best.
But even more positives were to come out for Team India. Prithvi Shaw was an automatic choice as one opening batsman after his wonderful debut in England. The selection of Murali Vijay and Lokesh Rahul as the other opening batsmen were baffling. Vijay was dropped from the team midway during the England tour because of poor form and Rahul has technical batting deficiencies because of which he has been getting out cheaply. Shaw getting injured even before the first test and poor batting from Vijay and Rahul in the 1st two tests prompted the team to fly in Mayank Agarwal and promote Hanuma Vihari to open the innings in the 3rd test. The primary role of test opening batsmen is to negate the effects of the new ball and bat long enough for subsequent batsmen to understand about the nature of the pitch, weather conditions, etc. Tossed directly into the fire, Vihari played the role of the opening batsman to the T and the way he played made a small yet significant role in India winning the 3rd test, something which Kohli acknowledged during the post match press conference.
The other significant aspect has been the emergence of Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal. Pant’s constant banter at the batsmen from behind the stumps, aggressive batting and excellent glove work never mind a few missed catches, he looks very much like a younger version of the great Adam Gilchrist. He is clearly in the works and is very much an exciting long term prospect who fits perfectly into Kohli’s scheme of things. Quite a bit was said when Vihari was selected over Mayank for the England tour but his moment under the sun wasn’t going to be denied for long. The calmness he brings in as an opening batsmen is going to complement wonderfully well with the plucky aggressiveness of Shaw.
The only aspect that rankles me is the way the team lost the series in England. Overcast and sudden changes in weather conditions creates prodigious swing of the ball and plays havoc with the batsmen. Even the English batsmen did struggle against the Indian bowlers. What bothers me is how Kohli mastered the conditions and stood tall and above every other batsmen with 3 classic hundreds and no other Indian batsmen learnt to apply themselves like him. This, after Kohli had failed miserably in the 2014 series in England and so many questions were being asked about his ability to play in English conditions. Kohli overcoming such a failure and questions on his ability with such a scintillating performance nullifies the blame on weather conditions and puts the onus right back on the other Indian batsmen to step up and work on their temperament, technique and hunger to make runs.
The way 2018 has panned out for Indian test cricket has created tremendous excitement and hope for test cricket lovers. Indian test cricket team seems to be safe in the hands of Kohli, Pujara, Pant and Bumrah for at least the next 5 years. But now is the time to relish a victory that has finally materialized.