A deep dive into India’s Test performances in the last three years throw up some key findings. Repeatedly the opposition tail has hurt India. Yesterday when Marnus was out to Umesh Yadav, Australia was down to 124-5. India had a sniff. Had the tail been snuffed out for another 50-75, India would be left to chase 375 and not 444. You could start to think it was doable. Despite having a well-rounded bowling attack, we could not polish off the lower order and ended up conceding valuable runs, which in turn proved decisive yet again. Sam Curran hurt us in England in 2018, Kyle Jamieson hurt us in New Zealand in 2020 and both Jamieson and Southee did so in the World Test Championship final in 2021. Yesterday it was Mitch Starc.
Had India managed to bowl Australia out for 200, the outcome could have been different. However, what ifs don’t make history. Ground realities do. And the reality is India wasn’t able to close out the innings. For some reason or the other, the bowlers faltered in the home stretch. Somehow, somewhere India is going wrong. We need a plan and need one urgently.
The second point that we need to make is that our top order isn’t making a telling contribution. In the final none except Rahane scored more than 100 runs in the game. And the manner in which some of the batters got out was even more disconcerting. Pujara played an uncharacteristic ramp shot, which he hardly ever plays. Rohit played a needless sweep. Virat, who everyone was banking on, played with hard hands. So what’s the way forward in remedying this? While this will not be needed in Indian conditions, for overseas situations -and we play Australia in 2024 in Australia and England in England in 2025, we need a much better top order effort to stay competitive.
The only option is a more fundamental rethink. While India now has a huge number of options in the white ball format to choose from, this isn’t the case yet with India’s batting in Test matches overseas. We don’t really have back-ups for our key batsmen. Who replaces Pujara at 3 for example when he finishes a fantastic career? While Pujara has been an emblem of valour and courage, can he recalibrate his batting one final time to help the team’s cause?
The feature of this Indian team in Australia 2021 was its boldness. It was a bold decision to play Ravindra Jadeja in Melbourne ahead of a batsman and he stood up to the challenge and made it count. His allround ability proved to be an asset and his improved batting skills meant we did not miss a batter. Did India miss a trick by playing four pacers at the Oval? Was it a defensive act to play both Umesh and Shardul? Did the team management err on the side of caution going against their own philosophy of aggressive cricket?In sport, the best challenge themselves every single day. Roger Federer, for example, is still pushing his 40-year-old body to try and play one more season. The hunger is relentless, and that’s what makes him the greatest champion of all. That’s what we expect from Rohit and Virat and this team. Just like India reinvented the wheel after the 2019 World Cup semifinal and built a white ball team that can play in any condition with freedom and intent, we need the think tank to do the same for red ball cricket. We need back-ups for every position, men who will be ready to take on the mantle when the time comes. And we have seen what the youth were capable of in the series against Australia. It is fair to say that both Shami and Umesh are in the home stretch of their careers. Both great servants of the game, they aren’t expected to be around when the next WTC final comes up. We need Siraj, Shardul, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep, and the next lot to be ready to take control when the baton eventually passes. That’s what process is all about. And that’s how you will keep knocking on the doors and be there and thereabout. For 20 years, New Zealand persevered. Williamson kept challenging his boys to stand tall and in doing so discovered matchwinners like Jamieson. For years Australia wanted to get back to the top of the world in red ball cricket. For them too it has been a process. And that’s what we need to emulate and learn from. And needless to say take bold calls.
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