Border Gavaskar Trophy: Team India A National Museum?

In whole of my ‘aware-of-cricket’ life I’ve never seen my home team in such a pitiable state—in absolute doldrums, no directions pointing anywhere, no will of any sort, a complete absence of a ‘management’ and no team building efforts—since the 0-3 drubbing by New Zealand on home turf till the present moment down under, except, of course, the lone wonder in Perth. Therefore, I’m rather drawn fatally to an arguably merciless mindset of comparing Team India to a national museum. The reasons thereof are very easy to detect: all the preciously historic set pieces are still on a grand display irrespective of if people of a cricket loving nature do grace those with generous footfalls or not; the timings and the duty hours are fixed irrespective of the ‘weather’ conditions as the controllers continue to feel that they must ‘learn’ from mistakes; and that some of the old pieces are only being adjusted here and there without giving any thought to bringing in new and newer pieces of interest or even the time-tested older pieces that have been put unceremoniously in the backburner.

In easier cricketing terms I mean to say that a few of the veterans of Team India are irreplaceable or un-droppable thanks to their gloriously historic past; they keep on pushing the team to defeat after defeat and yet the ‘managers’ still consider them too precious for any ‘unworthy’ action. Members of the team or of the management defy common sense as they think some of the previous decisions were mistakes to be unlearnt: the team under the most successful bowler won the toss, elected to bat and won the Test in an unbelievable way, and then the set-piece skipper coming back after attending to domestic duties to lead the team again still won the toss, elected to bat again and lost the match in a grand way; and since in both the occasions Team Indian batting faltered and tottered to pathetic totals the set-piece skipper felt, perhaps inspired by the managers, that those were grave mistakes, and therefore, he elected to field first on a perfect batting strip at the Gabba after winning the toss yet again. Thus encouraged and enabled, Team India has allowed ‘Headed’ Australia to pave the way for another thumping win as the hosts knew the visitors’ recurring batting accounts, leaving the patriotic fans with the only option of praying for the rains to continue.

No doubt, the set-piece skipper does have a glorious past as an aggressive opener; but since he failed repeatedly against New Zealand and since another in-and-out veteran, promoted to the opener’s slot, played fairly well the apparently cowering captain demoted himself to a much lower order which was magnanimously described by self-interested experts/commentators/mediapersons as ‘selfless’, and that terrific act to no avail. The ‘managers or selectors or coaches’ got totally befuddled as to who in the reserve should be brought in place of whom: one spinner was dropped after the Perth Test despite him playing relatively well and a veteran spinner was given the charge in the Adelaide Test, and then, that spinner was also dropped despite him playing relatively well and another veteran having a glorious past has been given the responsibility in the ongoing Brisbane Test who has so far gone wicket-less. Several other players including those who are much younger as well as promising and also those time-tested older ones we spoke of above have been treated helter skelter for no fault of theirs.

The signals from the Perth Test have been totally lost on the obfuscated skipper/veterans/managers/coaches or the mandarins. A young vibrant team led by an inspired achiever delivered a terrific win, reliving the memories of the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy when a new skipper led a young vibrant team to a memorable Series victory after the set-piece skipper left the team in a lurch to attend to domestic duties. Perhaps, the museum pieces in the team and the new coach have joined hands in a huge mutual collaboration to keep their respective positions safe and secure, and maybe therefore, the new coach has been seen throwing stones in a dark blind alley in gay abandon.

And all the experts/commentators/mediapersons back in the country, called India, continue to be utterly conscious of a possible absence of perks/benefits/packages/tours in the near future with the upcoming bonanza of the IPL-2025, if they decide calling a spade a spade. Brace!

India Qualify For The WTC Final Beating England 3-1 In Test Series!

India have crushed England by an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and last cricket test match at the Motera, Ahmedabad today and won the Test Series 3-1, thus qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final to be played at Lord’s from 18^th June 2021. India needed to win the Series by at least 2-1 margin and had this match been won by the visitors the Series would have ended in a 2-2 draw in which case Australia would have qualified. There are three priceless innings from the Indians that contributed to this emphatic win at the Motera today. First and foremost, the man-of-the-match Rishabh Pant for his incredible century of 101 in just 118 balls coming in to bat at a time when India had lost 4 wickets for 80 still trailing by 125 runs to England’s first innings total of 205. There was tremendous pressure on him to stick on and at the same time pile up enough runs to help his team come back in the game. Rishabh played against his normal attacking style defending a lot with Rohit Sharma till 121 runs and then taking command with Washington Sundar coming in, slowly opening out to launch his known attacking shots all around the park, and reaching his century with a six. His handling of veteran James Anderson with the new ball had been breath-taking. Rishabh Pant’s innings can be called match-defining as it started building a crucial lead for India.

 

Second, the astute and stylish innings of 96 runs not out by an emerging bowling all-rounder, Washington Sundar, only on his fourth test after a brilliant debut in Australia, giving support to Pant in their most valuable partnership of 113 runs, and then taking over command with Axar Patel for company in the match-winning partnership of 106 runs. Unfortunately, he missed out on a most deserved maiden century.

 

Third, spin-bowling sensation Axar Patel, only on the third test of his career, played a priceless innings of 43 runs, partnering with Sundar for a hundred-run partnership that gave India an unassailable lead of 160 runs. Unfortunately, Axar got run out, missing his half-century and not being able to help Washington get his ton, at the team score of 365 which eventually became the final score as the last wickets fell on that score.

 

Ravichandran Ashwin who achieved the feat of 400 wickets in just 77 tests in the last match at the Motera was deservedly judged the man-of-the-series for his incredible haul of 32 wickets in the four-match series and his astounding century in the Chennai second test. He has also become only the fourth bowler of test cricket for maximum wickets in a series thanks to his 32 in only 4 tests. In this this match he and Axar have evenly divided the wickets, thus each registering a fiver. Axar in fact has had four fivers in his first three test matches with the incredible total catch of 27 wickets. For pacers, Mohammad Siraj chipped in with two wickets in England’s first innings and Ishant Sharma did not need to bowl much.   

 

No England batsman could hold the fort for a much-desired duration except for a half-century by Stokes and 46 by Lawrence, mystery replacement for Archer, in the first innings. Captain Joe Root has virtually become the reverse ‘Root cause’ for defeat, not able to contribute anything of significance in the last three games. In this game England perhaps missed the services of Jofra Archer who was dropped inexplicably in view of the fact Anderson and Stokes captured 7 Indian wickets and that a second spinner was indeed brought in place of Broad whose selection in the last two games had been another mystery. Dom Bess who bowled quite well in tandem with Leach in enabling England win the first test in Chennai got dropped for the next two games, and he could not regain his form after being brought in for this game. England’s second innings was an absolute disaster with the whole team collapsing for 135 runs, just a lone half-century by Dan Lawrence.

 

This match has also definitely given some relief to the new pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium after the raging controversy that emerged as the inaugural pink-ball test here ended inside two days. Now it’s likely to be accepted as a challenging pitch where each playing team must prove their skills and application, because the fourth test went on for almost three days and while England again had the advantage of batting first and could not again capitalize, Indians, particularly the tailenders, showed the pitch to be an easy one in stages, by building a total of 365 that should be considered as massive on this ground.

 

Thanks to this test series win that also marks the 13th home series win on the trot during 2013-21 India has become the top team in ICC Test rankings and is sitting pretty at the top of the table of the WTC, with co-qualifier New Zealand next and Australia on the third position. With excellent youngsters and newfound talents India would be looking at the WTC Final against New Zealand exuding confidence. For the sixth, seventh and the eight batting positions India have players like Pant, Sundar, Ashwin, Axar and others. For the sixth position the form of Rishabh Pant has been revealing now, and his constant improvement as a wicket-keeper augurs very well for the team. Only the famed top-four Indian batting has been a disappointment except for the consistently useful knocks of Rohit Sharma. The forms of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane are real concerns at the moment. However, such class cricketers can turn the tide in their team’s favor anytime and instantly. 

Celebration times now for India with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar's 50 years of his sensational international debut this day in 1971 against West Indies in West Indies making way for India's majestic away Series win. What nicer gift than this win and qualification for the WTC Final in the legend's honor. Not to speak about the brilliant away series win in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this January. 

Why Is The Brisbane Test Victory So Important For Indian Cricket?

The Gabba Fortress!

On the 19^thof January 2021 at the Gabba in Brisbane, the dying moments of the fifth and final day of the fourth cricket test match between Indian and Australia, India accomplished the most improbable by defeating the shell-shocked hosts by 3 wickets. Set a daunting target of 328 runs for a win the visitors replied at 4/0 at stumps on the fourth day which meant India had to get 324 runs on the last day for victory. The Indian team, already written off by many an expert after the catastrophic 36 runs all out in the first test in Sydney thus conceding an easy win for Australia, had a tough job ahead on an unpredictable last-day pitch facing arguably the best bowling attack of the world. Most importantly, the ground is popularly known as Gabbatoir for Australia where the home team never lost a test match against any cricket team since the last 32 years with an unbelievable tally of 24-0 wins. Therefore, at best, most of the cricket experts and fans expected India to somehow save the match by standing out the day and draw the Series. Against a forecast of rains the weather cleared up in the morning, perhaps to witness one contest of immense proportions.

 

Cricket lovers across the globe were to stand witness to one of the most incredible chapters of world test cricket. Mixing caution with aggression the Indian batsmen launched a campaign for outright victory, despite losing all-stars opener Rohit Sharma very early. Rock-solid Cheteshwar Pujara (56) acted as the anchor at one end while the other opener Subhman Gill (91) and captain Ajinkya Rahane, although briefly for 24 runs, carried on with their attack on the Aussie bowlers from the other end. Pujara held the fort till the arrival of the player-of-the-match Rishabh Pant whose talent has been discussed widely by cricket experts and fans for more than a year with almost no concomitant results, delivered, after a glorious 97 runs in the drawn third test in Sydney, the final blow hitting the winning four with just about 2 of the mandatory overs left in his unforgettable individual score of 89 runs not out.

 

And India breached the Gabbatoir, after 32 years, proving amply that Australia is never invincible even in their favorite fortresses. They had retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy winning the Test Series 2-1 coming after Virat Kohli’s first-ever test series victory in Australia against Australia in their 2018-19 tour. Shell-shocked, indeed, is the word that described the reactions of the Australian team, the Australian media and their cricket experts. We have already seen the tremendous importance of this victory for all stakeholders concerned. However, there are several other crucial takeaways from this memorable match that we mention as below:

 

·       The Gabba victory along with the four-test Series victory marks one of the most resilient comebacks for any team in the history of world test cricket. All odds were stacked against India after losing the first test in Sydney and the making of that 36 runs all out in their second innings. Then the exit of the regular captain Virat Kohli, called as disastrous by most Australian commentators/experts, put the team in the tightest of corners possible as they had to overcome the ignominy of the 36-run-all-out syndrome and had to carry on without their history-defining captain. Defying all predictions Team India regrouped under the calm-but-aggressive and the strategic stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane: gave a fitting reply to the hosts winning the second test in Melbourne convincingly by 8 wickets, and going on to stage the historic save of the third test in Sydney by keeping the ferocious Aussie pacers at bay for nearly one and half days.

 

·       Before the start of the final test at the Gabba chips went still downhill for India with nearly half of their team members down and out with injuries, mostly from the body blows they suffered in that Sydney save, that included the main strike bowlers. They drafted in their youngsters, most of them featuring only in one or two test matches earlier and some downright debutants. And, they breached the Gabbatoir.

 

·       India have discovered their incredibly talented bench-strength that would not have come into limelight without the injuries suffered by their mainstay. This is likely to prove era-defining for the future of Indian Cricket, giving the national selectors the run for their money to choose the ‘best’ team. This would also prove to be very helpful considering the fact that players tend to suffer injuries in ferociously-competitive international cricket.

 

·       The victory also marks a significant departure from having players in the national team mostly from megacities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata or others, because most of the gifted rookies like Mohammad Siraj, Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and others have come from small towns or villages with humble backgrounds, often from the grip of poverty.

 

·       India has proved again and again that super teams like Australia, England and the West Indies are never invincible, even on their home turfs, once the team has the resolution and self-belief in their abilities under any circumstances. Particularly concerning Australia, Sourav Ganguly’s India ended the world-record streak of 16 consecutive Test victories by Aussie skipper Steve Waugh in the Kolkata Test in March 2001 in Australia’s tour of India and Anil Kumble’s India ended Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting’s streak of 16 Test victories without a single loss in Perth in January, 2008, in their Australia tour of 2007-08. Not to speak of the away test series victories against the West Indies and England in 1971, and halting the juggernaut called the West Indies in the 1983 ICC World Cup.

 

·       Team India has also suffered spells of racial abuse from some of the stands during this tour, and sledging by the desperate-to-win Australian players. However, they have managed to come out trumps in this regard too.

·       It’s been proved again how strong is the game of cricket as a unifying force in times of the divisive strategies the world over and the horrors of the year-long pandemic. Simply, there is not a soul left in the Indian Republic who has stopped smiling since that unforgettable day of the 19^th January 2021, and they are going to smile a lot for a long time to come.

 

Long live the game of cricket! Let the spirit of competition of cricket conquer us again and again from the narrow horizons of divisiveness and communalism!

Incredible Brisbane Victory: India Lift Border-Gavaskar Trophy Overwhelming Australia 2-1!

Rishabh Pant

It was a rare of the rarest moments in the history of Test Cricket with a Test match going down the wire till the last mandatory overs and converting itself into a T20-like situation as India needed around 50-odd runs from the last 10 overs and Australia needed to capture 5 wickets. That too, in the fifth and final day of the match with India batting last facing a daunting target 328 runs for victory or to suffer defeat or to save the match and the Series. This was also like a classic tennis game with match points and Series points over a breathtaking and suspenseful period of time.

 

And, who could be a better player than Rishabh Pant in that T20 moments? Conclusively for the team, Pant blossomed into tremendous form from the third Test in Sydney and started doing what he had been expected to do since a long while, irrespective of the formats of the game concerned. With more successful players in the shortest formats, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur giving him company! Pant did it in his unique style and aggression hitting a four to wrest victory from an increasingly desperate Australian side, with just two overs more to go. This is a victory that would make the pioneers of the IPL really proud, at long last.

 

Washington Sundar

Yes, India has accomplished a task considered by many to be almost impossible, particularly after that 36-all-out syndrome in the first Test in Sydney, and lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beating the hosts 2-1 in the four-Test Series with this incredible historic victory in Brisbane, the last Australian fortress to be conquered, by 3 wickets. We cannot afford to overlook the fact that the ultimate heroes of this victory are indeed the duo of Washington Sundar-Shardul Thakur for their historic 123-run partnership in the Indian first innings that brought India back into the game. This was Sundar’s test debut and Thakur played just one test before this. Then, there are the other youngsters: Mohammad Siraj, Subhman Gill, debutant Natarajan and Navdeep Saini who held their nerves and performed heroically overcoming their supposed inexperience.

 

This point brings us to another fact that Team India fielded for the Brisbane Test was without their striking bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav who were all in the injured list, not to speak of the on-leave regular captain Virat Kohli. This all-important fact augurs really well for the future of Indian Cricket, because now there are young, eager, fit, aggressive and competitively capable cricketers who can be called for field duty anytime needed and with confidence. On the batting youngsters, Gill really shone (91 in this match) showing great promise for the future; and of course, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw still need to go miles before hopefully cementing their places in the team. However, all of them are superb cricketers making the reserves of Team India really an energetically vibrant place.

 

R Ashwin

The whole of the Test Series between India and Australia had been an exciting, intensely-fought and absorbing affair. But for the ‘36’ incident the first test in Adelaide could have gone India’s way too; led and batted brilliantly by the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane the Melbourne test was won by India making the Series level, and this team-performance was just astounding as many considered the team was gone and out after that catastrophic 36; the third test in Sydney was marked by one of the most memorable fightbacks in world test cricket as Indian all-rounder Hanuma Vihari and spinner R Ashwin held the fort resisting an abusive Australia taking body blows for over forty overs; and the fourth test in Brisbane with inexperienced youngsters forming nearly half of Team India went down the wire with India finally scripting a victory to be remembered forever in great world cricket memory books. 

Jasprit Bumrah

For many, the final heroes of the Series would be the Indian bowlers who bowled with gusto and intelligence from the beginning, never allowing the hosts cross the 300-run mark except for on three occasions. Most importantly not only in bowling, but playing crucial roles in the batting too which were invariably match-saving or match-winning. And then, the racial abuse, the body blows and the sledging saga by desperate-to-win Australia.

Mohammad Siraj

 

Ravindra Jadeja

We must mention the leadership of the Indian stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, even though he could not do much in batting in both the third and the fourth tests. He continued to inspire the teammates by putting faith in all the members, and by making strategic moves throughout. He has also been the only centurion from India, with Steve Smith and Labuschagne scoring the other two centuries in the Series. We can realistically suggest India cricket management start adopting the split-captaincy experiment, making Rahane the permanent skipper in Test matches.

 

It’s really tremendous to repeat the victory of 2018-19 over Australia in Australia. As we said earlier, this augurs well for the future, and perhaps for the first time in the nearly year-old depressive pandemic reign the Indians can actually afford to be all smiles. 

India Hit Back To Crush Australia In Melbourne By 8 Wickets, Level Test Series 1-1!

India have come back in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series with a resounding victory in the second test in Melbourne today, defeating Australia by 8 wickets. A sweet revenge for the debacle in Adelaide, striking back with the same victory margin. But for the specter of 36-all-out the visitors could perhaps have won the first test too. And, the specter loomed large again today when two Indian wickets fell for 19, chasing a paltry victory target of 70 runs. Fortunately, the Starc-Cummins-Hazelwood threat did not become a reality again as captain Ajinkya Rahane, the hero and the player-of-the-match, joined debutant opener Shubman Gill who continued to be confident and as solid as in the first innings. The victory came in the 16^thover and the Test Series is now one-all with two tests to follow.

 

We mentioned in our last post on cricket that the top-form Indian bowlers just needed that much support from the batsmen to not allow the opposition snatch a sudden-death victory. Rahane along with Jadeja, Gill and Pant ensured that. It had been an incredible performance of the bowlers, continuing from the Adelaide test, to get the visitors out for 195 and 200 in the first and the second innings on their home turf. More so, because the hosts won the toss at the MCG, elected to bat first and obviously aimed at putting up a commanding total in the first innings, with India to bat last. Jasprit Bumrah with 4 scalps, Ashwin with 3 and Siraj with 2 never allowed the Aussies to get a foothold at any stage of the innings. Perhaps, the consistent failures of Steve Smith contributed largely for this, and the Indians should well be wary of him in the remaining two test matches.

 

Captaining the team in the absence of Kohli, Rahane finally bloomed in this tour and led from the front in all spheres of the match: restored full faith in Ashwin, arguably the top spinner of India at the moment who, unfortunately, would perhaps have been rested in the first test but for the injury of Jadeja; made strategic bowling changes giving the bowlers longer overs at a stretch and intelligent field placements; made the huddles much more interactive; and of course, scored that superlative century of 112 runs in the first innings allowing his team to take a crucial lead of 130 runs. His performances as the captain give a powerful argument in favor of having a split-captaincy regime for the shorter and test formats for Team India too. His leadership in the remaining two matches would be crucial for this.

 

There are a few concerns too for the visitors: consistent failures of Mayank Agarwal as an opener and Cheteshwar Pujara yet to prove his mettle; the place for Hanuma Vihari is also in question. If Rohit Sharma does join the team from the third test Mayank can be replaced seamlessly; else, KL Rahul who has been in top form in the shorter games should get a much-awaited look-in.

 

Team India has ended an unprecedented year of 2020 with a rollicking victory and should immensely look forward to starting the New Year with promise and high spirit. The third test match starts from January 7, 2021, the decision about the final venue is yet to be taken. The match was originally scheduled in Sydney, but the outbreak of cases of the mutant COVID-19 strain in the region favours Melbourne being retained as the venue for the third test too, a rare feat of having back-to-back tests at the MCG. Meanwhile, attendance of crowds at the MCG is capped at 30 thousand per day which is set remain in force for the upcoming match too, if Melbourne gets it. 

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia Destroy India Batting In Adelaide Pink-Ball Test To Go 1-0 Up!

Ashwin's Laugh of  Frustration?

Australia have won the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Series defeating India by 8 wickets inside three days in Adelaide which had been the first ever d/n pink-ball match between the two teams, and the hosts lead the series 1-0 with the second Test starting on the Boxing day, that is from the 26^th of December in Melbourne.

 

Last night at stumps it had been advantage India with a lead of 53 runs that seemed to be crucial and 9/1 as the night watchman Jasprit Bumrah saw off the day successfully. A very exciting third day’s play was anticipated with the Indian batting depth promising to score sufficient runs to corner the hosts who would be batting last. However, the very first hour of the ‘morning’ session destroyed India batting thoroughly as the visitors ended up with the their lowest ever test score of an unbelievable 36, the previous lowest being 42 against England in England in 1974. It was not simply that the Aussie pacers bowled incredibly well and were unplayable. They did bowl furiously dot on length and seam no doubt, but as skipper Virat Kohli pointed out later on there was a lack of intent on the part of the batsmen. Four wickets fell at the score stuck at 15 for over half an hour, and it was all over when Kohli too followed suit at 19/6. It had all been edges outside the off stump flying behind to the wicket-keeper or the slips. Not a single ‘famed’ batsman showed a resolve to stick on and score runs.

 

It was actually a great opportunity lost, because even a total score of 150 would have been competitive for the Aussies batting last. The Indian pacers and the lone spinner Ashwin bowled very well in the Australian first innings restricting the hosts to 191 despite all the fielding lapses and gave their team a lead of 53 precious runs. In the Indian first innings too, the total could very well have crossed the 300-mark had skipper Kohli not been run out under very unfortunate circumstances. A repeat of the Adelaide match in December 2018 when India won by 31 runs was a distinct probability this time too. But it was not to be.

 

The hosts added more humiliation to the visitors by making a perfect mockery of the target of 90 by romping home in style and in good time. Wade and Burns scored freely to build a partnership of 70 runs before the former was run out. Burns scored a half century and he was the only wicket claimed by the Indian bowlers, namely Ashwin. For the hosts Cummins and Starc captured 7 wickets each in the match while Hazelwood got 4 scalps. In totality, the pink ball did not display any special favors for the seamers with some the commentators saying that in a pink ball the seam remains visible for the batsmen which is an advantage for them.

 

As the Indian skipper Kohli goes home, probably two days in advance now, the upcoming test matches pose a huge challenge for Team India. Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and the would-be stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane continue to fail miserably despite their active participation in the IPL, and their replacements do not look practical at the moment. Either of KL Rahul or Rohit Sharma could replace Kohli for the next three Tests. However, KL Rahul could be seriously considered for replacing Shaw with Rohit included in the team. Cheteshwar Pujara, the hero of the 2018-19 Series and taken out from the wilderness of more than a year, has performed reasonably well in the first innings and is going to be the key for the next matches. The bowlers are in top form and eager to go for the kill, only the support of the batsmen can make them win matches.