After losing two back-to-back World Test Championship finals, and an ODI World Cup, India clinched the T20 World Cup in West Indies. A well-deserved victory, followed by team celebrations that ranged from a meet-and-greet with the PM to busting out dance moves at the Wankhede. A bit over the top, but not unpalatable!
It is now red-ball season. Bangladesh is routed in the home series 2-0 with some exceptional batting and bowling display, especially in Kanpur where the Indian team pulls off a stunning victory in two-and-a-half days. A spot in the WTC Finals is up for grabs.
Act – I: India vs NZ
New Zealand arrives at Indian shores after suffering a whitewash against Sri Lanka in the two-test series. Nothing out of the ordinary. The cricketing anglosphere is not known to put up a brave front on the slow, turning pitches in the Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka. This is good news for India as it needs to win four of its remaining eight tests to secure a spot in the WTC Finals, three of which are at home against NZ.
However, the cricketing gods have scripted a different story for the home series. NZ whitewashes India. A humiliating series defeat, especially because the Indian team finds itself unable to tackle pitches “curated” with the solitary aim of “spinning” a web around NZ batters. The Indian batters prove themselves to be inept at playing the spin-trio of NZ (one of which, incidentally, is a full-time wicketkeeper, part-time office). Indian spinner fares better given the nature of the tracks, but allows for NZ to form regular partnerships, notching enough runs on the board to skittle our batters out.
In the backdrop of this historic loss, calls for a change of guard are loud and clear from all quarters. The cricketing body politic collectively demands for the guillotine to fall on older legs.
Must heads roll?
Interlude: A well-balanced side is chosen
The Indian selectors stick to their guns and pick a well-balanced side, including all the “old pros”. Be that as it may, the Indian team arrives in Australia fairly early, and has a 10-day practice stint (concealed behind black curtains, one wonders why). From the pressers, it seems that the team is well prepared, confident, and eager to exorcise the ghosts of the NZ series at home.
Act – II: Perth; Optus Stadium
Jasprit Bumrah steps into Rohit Sharma’s captaincy boots for the series-opener. He looks calm and reassured, and seems to be enjoying this new role as captain. India wins the toss, and, contrary to popular belief, opts to bat first on a fresh, green pitch, which looks ready to snare any batting order. India is bundled out for 150. Questions around India’s batting on pacey, bouncy tracks resurface. Virat Kohli’s form is under the scanner. The call demanding heads to roll begin echoing again in the Indian media. However, the match is not over yet.
India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah hugs teammate Virat Kohli after winning the first cricket test against Australia in Perth. (AP/ PTI Photo)
What happens next is stuff that dreams are made of. It starts with Bumrah and co. demolishing the Aussie batters with a display of incisive pace bowling for a paltry first-innings total of 106. From thereon, it’s a Yashasvi Jaiswal-KL Rahul show. In walked the Indian batters on a warm sunny second day and remained unbeaten at the end with India gaining a solid lead of ~250 by the end of the day. Jaiswal remains the batting mainstay for the Indian team, with a stunning daddy-hundred (161), which he proclaims as his best knock till date in a post-match interview. A stupendous opening stand of 201 ensures that every other batter comes in with a cushion, and it becomes that much easier to score runs in such situations. Kohli does exactly that, and peels off a classy hundred, his 81st international ton (watch out Tendulkar!).
With a well-timed declaration, Bumrah ensures that the Indian bowlers capitalise on the tired Australian legs and shoot out three quick wickets before the end of third day. It is all but a formality from thereon. The bowlers come back on the fourth day to bundle out Oz within two sessions, securing a win of 295 runs, the second biggest defeat for Oz ever. Such was the nature of this thumping victory that one would have to go back over 40 years to surpass the margin. This shows not just the dominance of Australia in international cricket, but also highlights the substantive achievement of the Indian team. Bumrah and Jaiswal are rightly being hailed as generational talents. Winning by such a huge margin will, most definitely, have a deleterious effect on the Oz psyche. In fact, their media is already calling for Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steven Smith to be dropped or sent to Grade cricket for rediscovering their form (a bit premature?). Whether they have replacements to fill their shoes is a whole other debate.
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India’s Harshit Rana, right, is hugged by captain Jasprit Bumrah after taking the wicket of Australia’s Alex Carey on the fourth day of the first cricket test between Australia and India in Perth, Australia. (AP Plhoto)
Final Act – World Test Championship finals?
While we can savour the historical feat achieved at the Optus, a stadium where Australia had never lost until November 25th, we must also keep an eye on the bigger picture. For India to reach the WTC finals, it must beat Australia 4-0 or 4-1 — at all costs. The opportunity is ripe, the seeds have been sown. It is time to administer the coup de grace with intelligent, old-school test cricket, following the same template as the second innings of the first test, and taking advantage of a brittle Aussie batting order that looks woefully out of form. Australia will try to hit back hard in the second test, but if the Indian team can outplay them with the pink ball, for which they possess the required skill-set and, most importantly, a winning momentum, there will be no resurrection of form for Australia in the tests to follow.
The writer is an advocate practicing before the Supreme Court of India. A former captain across formats for UP, he has represented 4 IPL franchises and played over 120 domestic matches.
