New Zealand are worthy champions of the Test cricket world: Rudraneil Sengupta

There were flashes of brilliance from India. And yes, there was hope. But who could begrudge the dignified Kiwis their title?

In the end, there wasn’t to be another miracle like the one at Brisbane, nor gritty heroics like in Sydney. There were small flashes of hope, little things made big, riding on the recent memory of what this India side is capable of: Rishabh Pant stepped out and swung his bat nonchalantly at the fastest ball New Zealand could hurl at him (Yes! He will hit everything out of the park, make 100 off, like, 80 balls. India will set a crazy target for the Kiwis and then strangle them in the chase!) Ravichandran Ashwin commanded some wicked drift and worked out nasty angles to befuddle both openers (Yes! Now he will run through the rest of them, pulling a fifer out of thin air in conditions where he has no business getting even one wicket let alone five, and then Ravindra Jadeja will run one out with a direct throw from 50 yards and then it’s just the Kiwi tail…)

None of that happened. But that’s fine. It was still a fitting finale to the first World Test Championship, and who can deny that New Zealand are the deserving winners; or be unhappy about their quiet, good-humoured, dignified captain Kane Williamson, with his pioneer beard and beatific smile, his impeccable grace in winning or losing, shrugging off the most unfair-seeming loss in recent cricket history — the 2019 World Cup to England — by being crowned world Test champions? (Is there anyone who does not want to give Williamson a big, warm hug?)

These were a few takeaways for me:

Beware of Kyle Jamieson: He looks a bit like Edmund Hillary and bowls a bit like Joel Garner. Like the West Indies legend, Jamieson is 6 ft 8 and hurls the ball down from a great height. Not only does that mean awkward bounce from the good length, he also knows how to use the seam, get swing, and bowl at inch-perfect fuller lengths. He is not just New Zealand’s but cricket’s find from this Test championship.

No one does grit better than the Kiwis: We knew that already. We saw it at the 2019 World Cup. But every time you see them dig deep, in their indefatigable, unflustered fashion, it’s a revelation. It was exemplified on the final day of the Test, when BJ Watling, playing the last game of his incredible career, dislocated a finger. The physio manipulated it back into place and he left the field. Minutes later, he was back on.

Mohammed Shami is a genius: About five years ago, before Shami turned into the Test monster he is now, I asked Virat Kohli who he had most trouble playing in the nets. “Shami,” Kohli said, without a second thought. The man who rose from the maidans of Kolkata, staying in the house of a club official because he couldn’t afford to rent his own room and routinely surviving on the free biryani given to players during club matches, now has near-complete mastery over every aspect of fast bowling.

Cheteshwar Pujara needs runs: He is supposed to be the rock on which India’s Test batting stands. He has not scored a century in over 18 Tests. His average is on a precipitous decline. He needs to step up, or he will be left behind.