The just concluded England tour of India will go down as one of their worst misadventures on these shores. Notwithstanding England’s commanding dominance of the Indian subcontinent till 1947, their cricketing sojourns to India have gone from bad to worse over the decades.
The very fact that India has now won all seventeen of their series played at home should be daunting for any visiting team, and is. But this England team came with a Bazball flair, so named because their coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes have revitalised the team’s fortunes in the test arena of late. Their brand of ultra aggression had hitherto won them many fans but Team India proved to be as much of a bully as ever.
While they started with a bang, bouncing back from a gigantic deficit in the Hyderabad test match, thanks to a magnificent 196 from Ollie Pope, they went from bad to worse thereafter to lose four tests on the trot. India, meanwhile, raised the level of their game and almost matched their own consistency in the world cup (let’s not talk of the final though!)
Rahul Dravid has brought in his own brand of doggedness as coach of this young side and despite the absence of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant, he inspired his boys to land telling punches. Here is my very own assessment of each player, and I leave it to the discerning reader to come to his or her own conclusion.
{{/usCountry}}Rahul Dravid has brought in his own brand of doggedness as coach of this young side and despite the absence of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant, he inspired his boys to land telling punches. Here is my very own assessment of each player, and I leave it to the discerning reader to come to his or her own conclusion.
{{/usCountry}}10/10 - Ravi Ashwin and Yashasvi Jaiswal
These two champions strode across the canvas of the series with their own differing brands of mastery, despite being at opposite ends of the age spectrum! While Ashwin was wily, persistent and immensely skilful, greenhorn Jaiswal delighted India fans with class and temperament that are rare commodities in a single package.
9/10 - Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav
These two classy players raised the bar of their own game in this all important series. Gill found second wind in his test career after battling a series of failures. He buckled down to score two centuries and an all important ninety. He also stewarded a dicey chase on a difficult pitch at Ranchi. Kuldeep is meanwhile emerging as a right-handed version of Shane Warne with guile and skills that are heartwarming.
8/10 - Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma
The vice-captain and the skipper displayed their true quality when it mattered. Bumrah bowled one of the best spells of pace bowling ever seen in India, with stupendous reverse swinging yorkers at Visakhapatnam. His bamboozling of Pope and the shattered stumps were a sight to behold. Rohit led from the front as he did in the world cup and scored two brilliant centuries apart from a quick fifty in the crucial second innings at Ranchi.
7/10 - Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja
Man of the match performances at Rajkot by Jadeja and at Ranchi by newbie Jurel were virtuoso feats. They almost single handedly turned the tables on England in these two tests. While Joe Root’s diabolical attempted reverse scoop off Bumrah at Rajkot spelt doom for England, Jadeja came up with an all-round feat to remember. Jurel, meanwhile, stunned the Englishmen with his knock of 90 at Ranchi and his astounding partnership with Kuldeep, of all people!
6/10 Sarfaraz Khan
The youngster showed immense skill, particularly against the spinners, and his long wait to play for India finally ended with touching scenes at Rajkot when his family was in tears during his debut moment.
5/10 Mohammed Siraj
He did not have much to do but his spell at Rajkot was crucial! A doughty character who always gives his best.
4/10 Srikar Bharat
Bharat unfortunately lost his place to Jurel primarily because his batting is not top notch. He also made some keeping errors and Jurel grabbed the opportunity with both gloves!
KL Rahul, Axar Patel and Devdutt Padikkal did not play enough matches in the series to be assessed but India’s bench strength seems hearteningly superb. The sheer drama and theatre of test cricket compelled this columnist to shelve midway another piece and write this report. But then, his love for the glorious game usually prevails!
vivek.atray@gmail.com