Only an Indian (or Pakistani) team can create cricket history by becoming the first to lose a Test after its batsmen have scored five centuries. But that dubious distinction apart, there is lots to be said for this team even after a convincing defeat.
Hark back to conventional wisdom among Indian cricket fans as this team set out. Captain Shubman Gill had been dropped from the team in the previous series against Australia. He had had only four first-class matches as a captain by way of experience. In a curtain raiser to the series on him in arguably the newspaper with the best sports coverage, the attribute highlighted most was his consistency. Consistency not as a player - can't argue that for somebody averaging in the 30s after 32 Tests over five seasons - but consistency in how he has dealt with the highs and lows in his cricket life.
Gill's Captaincy: A Huge Undertaking
Gill's temperament was his strongest virtue in his coaches' view, but we didn't really know how he rated on the two key topmost qualities required for a cricket captain: ability to read the game and motivate his men. So a captain of unknown motivational and strategic mettle was going to anchor the team at No 4, stepping into the ‘viraat' (huge) - shoes of Kohli.
This much was also known: Yashaswi Jaiswal would open, Rishabh Pant would be No 5 and KL Rahul would float between the opening slot and No 6, as he has done through his 59-Test career going back 11 years. No 3 and No 6? Not known. Effectively, then, there were clouds over the composition and order of half the batting side.
Rahul, Jaiswal And The Batting Core
Post Headingley, we largely have the answers. Rahul, 33 and by far the Batting Elder, seems determined to be the next Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli combined for the team. He always had the technical nous; now he seems to have the clarity of mind and purpose to show that he will not only make the opener's position his own but will show the others how to bat from No 3 to No 6. Jaiswal should spend some sleepless nights over the fact that his three dropped catches cost the team 166 runs, but nobody doubts that he is one of the greats in the making.
Sai Sudarshan is easily the most fascinating Indian batsman currently. His distinction of being the highest scorer in the latest IPL with 759 runs in 15 innings came on the shoulders of strokes, for the most part, of the highest cricket pedigree. Dinesh Karthik, his Tamil Nadu teammate, has spoken about how he meticulously prepares for matches, combining yoga, meditation and extensive visualisation of what might happen at the crease. He has spent stints in English country cricket to further sharpen his game and imbibe some of the famed professionalism of the county cricketer.
He can be pardoned the debut Test nerves in the first innings. And it was his misfortune that England's most skilful bowler, Ben Stokes, was bowling when he walked in. But he looked the part in the second innings 30 till, again, Stokes ensnared him with a ball that bounced a little more than Sai was expecting. Short point: we have just seen the beginning of the career of somebody who will surprise if he does not become a very fine Test batsman. Analysis paralysis is the only cloud one can see on the horizon.
Promise And Pressure
Gill's pedigree as a batsman has never been in doubt. And he's done the right thing by stepping into Kohli's shoes at No 4. By announcing that he intends to be the highest Indian scorer in the series, Gill the batsman seems determined that Gill the captain should not sit heavy on his shoulders. Through his career, he has been plagued by technical niggles but he has, rightly, been the heir apparent for so long that it is only his mental demons that can plague him.
Rarely has a truism been as apt as when it is said that Rishabh Pant is, well, whatever version of Rishabh Pant he chooses to serve up on the day. But one statistic should shut up all his critics: his last seven scores on English soil have all been above fifty, and three of them have been centuries. Is he a formidable No 5? You bet, despite the brain fades by which he manages to get himself out.
The Return Of Karun Nair
And what about Karun Nair? Does he belong? Clearly, the mental mettle is there, to force his way into the side after six years and the ignominy of being dropped after scoring a triple ton. He, too, has added to his skills for English wickets by playing in county cricket. His first innings zero was clearly a case of jitters, and his second innings 20 was not authoritative. But he made a statement by employing the reverse sweep as his first scoring stroke in the second innings after a blob in the first. He has to earn his place, but being assured that he is not always on the precipice of being dropped will help. He deserves to be given time till the third Test at Lord's.
The Indian team were lucky that their baptism into the English Test series came on a rare sunny day in Yorkshire and against an attack rated among the weakest in recent memory. Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue will come across days at the other four avenues where the weather and wicket will be more of an ally, so the real Test of the Indian batsmen lies ahead.
But, ask yourself, has the realisation set in that with five centuries from four top batsmen and the unrealised promise of Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair, the waters are almost beginning to close in on the void left by the abrupt departure of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli? And ask yourself if it was at all likely that such a thought would suggest itself a week ago?
The Bowling Saga
It is, of course, well known that India lost because of its bowlers. Yes, there was the small distinction of the side dropping more catches than any other team in memory. But, as Bumrah said, it was cold and the ball was slippery, etc. But it was the poor bowling of the third and fourth seamers and the irresponsible batting of all the bowlers that cost the match.
Shardul Thakur was chosen because he can supposedly bat but, as Siddharth Monga wrote on Cricinfo, he was out eighth ball and twelfth ball, both times essaying an airy off drive. Even Bumrah, who could have been captain had he wanted it, was out after a wild heave in the fading hours of the fourth day, when all the tailenders had to do was keep Jadeja company and take the score closer to 400, leaving England challenged by the total and by the time left. Gill said later that they had wanted to set a target of 430 runs. Did his bowlers know that?
For his five wickets in 35 overs, Krishna gave away 220 runs, averaging more than six an over. Mohammed Siraj, now into his fifth season as a frontline bowler, wasted the new ball in England's first innings with three wayward overs, relieving all the pressure Bumrah was building on the other side after having scalped Zak Crawley in the first over. Jadeja, 324 wickets in 81 Tests, took time to discover the rough he could exploit on the fifth day of a wicket with uneven bounce, leaving the building of pressure too late to make a difference.
Tough Questions
Akash Deep or Arshdeep Singh can scarcely go for more runs than Krishna and they are better swing bowlers. Thakur's fortuitous two wickets notwithstanding, his time as a budding all-rounder is over. Nitish Reddy has shown enough technical competence to make a bigger impact. Kuldeep Yadav will, any day, be a more offensive option than Jadeja. And, unlike Jadeja, Kuldeep still has potential to discover and a point to prove.
Questions hover over Gill's captaincy. Siraj was the best Indian bowler on Day 5, and it has been pointed out that he was not bowled between overs 42 and 80. It's also been highlighted that it was KL Rahul who took the initiative to have Shardul Thakur bowl and pick up two wickets on that day. He, and Pant, were also seen at times setting the field.
Gill was not seen as the natural leader as he made his way through the layers of Indian cricket, till his batting pedigree as a Test batsman singled him out as the next captain. He, and this Indian team under Gautam Gambhir, are far from the finished product. But their belief in the team's potential would have been bolstered by the good batting show and Siraj's stepping up in the second innings. Overall, that there were more positives than negatives for the Indian team from the Headingley Test augurs well for India in this fresh season of the World Test Championship. The team management needs to stop being defensive, think positive and invest in players with proven potential and a future rather than in those on borrowed time.
(Ajay Kumar created the magazine 'Sportsworld' in the 1980s, which had Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as the editor. He has followed the game since.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
