The Most Inexperienced Team India Blasts Away the English Bazball! India Beat England by 434 Runs!

Arguably the most inexperienced playing eleven India had ever fielded in the international Test playing arena, has blasted away the much-talked-about Bazball approach to cricket that England adopted under their aggressive coach Brendon McCullum and an equally aggressive captain Ben Stokes in 2022, beating the visitors by the biggest-ever margin in terms of runs (434) in the last session of the fourth day of the Third Test between India and England in Rajkot today with India leading the five-match Series 2-1 now. The Indian selectors had reportedly included two debutants in the top seven of the playing eleven as far back as in 1999, and in 2024 for the third test match they had to do so by including debutant Sarfaraz Khan as a batsman and Dhruv Jurel as wicket keeper-batsman and a rookie batsman Rajat Patidar, apart from the other youngsters of great promise like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. This crucial decision had to be taken with the continuing absence of the two stalwarts Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, and the indifferent forms of Shreyas Iyer and the two wicket-keepers already tried in the first two tests. Therefore, fingers were crossed with the most inexperienced team in action and the traditionally tremendous batting depth of Team India slowly and almost inevitably remaining only on paper. On the other hand, even though the English bowling attack has not been much of a threat to India the Baz-positivity was ringing in the air and England must’ve definitely smelt the victory scent to go up in the Series. But what a match it turned out to be!

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss which was always good in Indian pitches, and inevitably opted to bat first. Perhaps due to the overnight due the Rajkot pitch that looked perfect for batting had some moisture and taking full advantage of that Mark Wood proved nearly unplayable, capturing the dangerous Jaiswal and the sober Gill. Tom Hartley, the mainstay spinner of England in this tour of India, who was introduced early did further damage reducing India to 33/3. The inexperienced line-up was looming large and a collapse looked very much a possibility. However, Rohit (131) played like a captain this time and forged a huge partnership (204 runs) with the most experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (112) who was moved up the order— and India were ‘out of the Wood’.

With the fall of Rohit, fourth down, in came the first debutant Sarfaraz Khan. Having a tremendous record in domestic cricket the 26-year-old never looked nervous or tentative and played brilliantly with fours and sixes all around the park. Another big partnership was evolving much to the detriment of England, but as a lucky break for them Sarfaraz was run out in a horrible mix-up with the experienced Jadeja at 99 making the former the sacrificial goat. Out at 62, Sarfaraz departed dejectedly and cried in the pavilion even as Rohit made his anger known publicly. Jadeja then stole that single to make to his 4^th Test century. On the second day the second debutant Dhruv Jurel (46) started rebuilding the innings with solid support from the veteran spinner all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin (37). Thanks to a spirited cameo from the Indian strike pacer Jasprit Bumrah (26) India finished at 445, a much respectable total under any circumstances.

Very true to the result-oriented and positive Bazball philosophy the English openers scored fluently all around the park till Crawley (15) fell at the team total of 89; Ollie Pope (39) added to the batting mayhem; and of course, Ben Duckett raced to his century in just 88 balls and remained not out on 133 in the company of Joe Root at stumps on the second day with England at 207/2 in 35 overs—almost 6 runs an over which is unthinkable in a Test match. It proved again the fact that the pitch had no demons in it at all and that England were very much in with a chance to at least save the match if not win.

However, what transpired from the start of the third day was a lesson in tight and aggressive bowling, particularly by Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja who all seemed to be bowling to an attacking plan masterminded by the captain. Except for Duckett who made 153 no other English batsmen could stick out for long and the whole team folded up for 319—losing 8 wickets for just 112 runs and conceding an unexpected bounty of 126-run lead for India.

The Indian second innings belonged to Yashasvi Jaiswal almost in entirety. He notched up his century in a dominant T-20 style, then retired hurt at the end of the third day, resumed today, the fourth day, and made it a double hundred—his second back-to-back double century in two Tests and thus becoming only the third Indian cricketer to do, after Vinod Kambli and Virat Kohli. Gill played a master innings of 91 runs and got run out unfortunately. An unbeaten partnership of nearly 200 runs evolved between Jaiswal (214 in 236 balls not out) and Sarfaraz Khan (68 runs in 72 balls). Suddenly, the pitch became a T-20 ground and the two mavericks defied all orthodoxy reserved for the classic Test format. Jaiswal’s 12 sixes matched the highest sixes in a Test innings held by Wasim Akram. The mayhem could’ve continued had Rohit not declared at 430/4 giving England the well-nigh impossible task of making 557 runs to win.

The England second innings was a horror story—the highest individual score being 33 made by Mark Wood. The run-out of Duckett which was extremely inexplicable started the rot and the mad rush toward defeat. The England innings folded up for a paltry 122 in just 39.4 overs, giving India the 434-run win and it was all over at the fag end of the fourth day today, contrary to all expectations. The weak and aimless English bowling attack was pathetically matched by a batting display that totally lacked in any kind of application. Veteran James Anderson being hit for consecutive sixes by a 22-year-old reminded me of the rampaging acts of a young Sachin Tendulkar in the early nineties. Alas Bazball! England needs much introspection to do before the fourth test begins from 23^rd February, 2024, in Ranchi.