Test Cricket: Finally India Get a D(e) Jure(l) Wicketkeeper-Batsman!

During this England Tour of India-2023-24 things have really happened in the five-match Test Series. All the matches have produced results within four days each and there was no one-way traffic as both the teams fought tooth and nail to win. The first Test in Hyderabad that England won by 28 runs and the 4^th Test in Ranchi that India won by 5 wickets proved to be nail-biting suspense dramas. In between the Indian debutants shone bright in the Third Test in Rajkot that India won by a record margin. One of the debutants, Dhruv Jurel, went on to shine the brightest in this 4^th Test, his only second. On the second day at stumps of the 4^th test match this writer had left you stating that if India conceded more than 100 runs to England it would most likely prove fatal for the hosts. Dhruv Jurel changed that story in its entirety and scripted a brand-new chapter (in fact, this writer did hint on a coincidental partnership like that of England): with his team reeling at 219/7, still trailing by 134 runs, Jurel resumed on the third day and added 73 precious runs with Kuldeep Yadav, and still didn’t give up, adding more crucial runs with the debutant pacer Akash Deep. Thus he not only reduced the deficit to a number below hundred, but brought it down to below fifty which virtually took the edge off England’s potential lead, leaving the visitors to fight it out anew in the second innings. Jurel was the last wicket out for a tremendous 90 runs in 149 balls which witnessed four sixes and six fours with his team finishing at 307, conceding just a 46-run lead to England.

After Ravichandran Ashwin’s fifer and Kuldeep Yadav’s four wickets destroyed England scuttling them out for just 145 runs with Zak Crawley scoring the highest individual score of 60 followed by the second highest of 30 by Jonny Bairstow, India needed 192 runs to win which looked rather easy, made easier by the way Rohit and Jaiswal began—they finished the third day at 40 without loss and then on the  fourth day carried on the opening partnership to 84 runs at which stage it seemed India was cruising to seal the Series. However, any total of more than 150 runs on the fourth day on a turning pitch is never easy. With England spinners Bashir and Hartley in action from both ends anything could’ve happened. And the India wickets did tumble—from a position of strength they were tottering at 120 for 5 at which stage, again, the match could’ve gone to the English way with their aggressive captain Ben Stokes giving out everything for a win to stay alive in the Series.

Dhruv Jurel changed that, one more time. He found a strong companion in the form of another youngster of promise, Shubman Gill, who got his act together this time. Both of them kept on inching toward the target in a determined way, combining defence with cautious aggression and never delving into the proverbial shells. Nothing worked for England after that, and the duo achieved the win for their team with an invaluable unbeaten partnership of 72 memorable runs—Gill remaining not out on 52 and Jurel not out on 39 runs. India sealed the Test Series taking an unassailable lead of 3-1 with the fifth and the last Test starting from 7^th March in Dharamshala.

Dhruv Jurel was named the Player of the Match—a title only in his second Test. And for India, they have finally found a solid wicketkeeper-batsman of future after searching for one since MS Dhoni retired and then after Rishabh Pant unfortunately had a serious accident that put him out of action for a long time during which the Indian selectors tried on various options: from the likes of Sanju Samson to KS Bharat, not to speak of the sporadic KL Rahul episodes. Dhruv Jurel fits in nicely with all the requirements—his classy keeping and catching behind the stumps, his technically sound batting and a suitably calm temperament with his three innings so far being signs of things to come.  

Dreams that do indeed come true for so many of us human beings thanks to their relentless pursuits: Dhruv Jurel hailing from the modest family of a retired army havildar father and a homemaker mother in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, his mother reportedly selling her jewelries for the fulfilment of her son’s dreams, and Jurel achieving a place in Team India at the age of just 22; very similar to that of Sarfaraz Khan who also has very humble beginnings and who had really to fight hard all the way to find himself in the national team, how can we forget the tearful scenes with his father and his wife in the stadium of Rajkot during the third test! Enliven up your dreams, Young India! Amen!

India Struggling Under England Spinning Spell! Ranchi Test, Day2

England spinners, Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley, have made India struggle, once again after Hyderabad, and put the home team in a precarious position on the second day of the 4^th Test between India and England in Ranchi today. Bashir who replaced Rehan Ahmed is the chief damager, capturing four very important scalps that are Yashasvi Jaiswal (73), Shubman Gill (38), Rajat Patidar (17) and Ravindra Jadeja (12). This was followed up with gusto by the match-winner of the First Test, Tom Hartley who consumed one of the two debutant match-winners of the Third Test, Sarfaraz Khan and then dismissed R Ashwin whom the team dearly depended upon to hang on for the day and thus anchoring a partnership with Jurel, the second successful debutant of the Third Test. The two English spinners took absolute control of the proceedings after James Anderson removed captain Rohit Sharma cheaply and in just the third over of the India reply. Like in the previous outing a partnership was blooming between Jaiswal and Gill, but was cut short by Bashir getting Gill LBW at the team score of 86/2 (partnership restricted to 82 only). After that the Indian wickets started tumbling at regular intervals: 112/3 (Patidar), 130/4 (Jadeja), 161/5 (Jaiswal), 171/6 (Sarfaraz) and 177/7 (Ashwin). The inexperience of the team lay exposed this time.

Well, you can’t expect the youngsters to fire every time and take the team out of crisis or get it to a winning position every time. The captain, even though he did contribute a century in the previous test, must be determined to carry on and at least contribute a moderately good score; the same applies to the relatively more experienced Gill who failed to anchor the partnership in spite of Jaiswal going great guns at the other end; it’s okay to give another chance to Rajat Patidar who has been failing since the selectors were kind enough to include him in the playing eleven, but then the selectors should’ve first checked the availability of the relatively more experienced batsmen in the reserve—like for example, the axed Shreyas Iyer who doesn’t at all deserve a permanent deletion; and more disastrously, you can’t afford to drop your main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah with the Series still undecided, particularly in the absence of the other strike pacer Mohd Shami.

If the would-be deficit is more than a 100 runs India would still face a huge challenge even if England manages to score only around 150 runs in their second innings; simply because as per the Hyderabad and other similar experiences on ‘home’ turfs where the ball turns, keeps low, induces vicious reverse swing and capitalizes on the pronounced uneven bounce, the home team invariably finds the pitch unplayable in the fourth innings. Now, the Indian spinners not at par with their counterparts of yore, it’s up to any good spinner of any visiting team to exploit the pitch for their teams better than the home spinners. Therefore, in a way, a Test match gets pre-determined by the toss—win it to win the match and vice versa. This also induces this writer to make an explosive statement: while nothing is wrong in making slow-turning pitches in here just like the way Australia or England or South Africa put up green turfs in their backyards, you cannot hope for your home team to win the toss every possible time; it makes you wonder if that was the case when they prepared the Ahmedabad pitch for the World Cup-2023 Final, hoping the home team to win the toss as they were consistent doing so during the tournament and then take the suitable call? If this speculation, howsoever ungrounded it may be, attract ire from some this writer would only welcome them to elucidate the issue further.

This writer agrees fully with England captain Ben Stokes on what he said after the last two consecutive defeats: he said the option of the ‘umpire’s call’ should be eliminated from the DRS rules. Rightly so, because the DRS has evolved to eliminate human mistakes and errors in judgement. Earlier there used to be ‘benefit of the doubt’ in LBW decisions expressed by the third umpires when the ball seemed to be just and only just touching the top or the sides of the off or the leg stumps and when it couldn’t be conclusively proved if the ball edged the bat or not. But now in such cases the DRS allows the ‘umpire’s call’, meaning if the umpire gave it Out originally then it has to be Out and vice versa, thus completely ignoring the ‘benefit of the doubt’ factor. If ‘err to human’ is true we cannot say the machines are bulletproof. Yes, like Ben said, ‘the umpire’s call’ should be taken out of the DRS and the entire decision should be left for the digital examination to decide, of course, if they could be convincing and conclusive. At the same time Ben Stokes was apparently benefiting today from the same clause he wanted removed!

A slight twist of good fortune for India at stumps today. Like the England seventh wicket partnership contributed more than 100 invaluable runs for the team with bowler Robinson notching up his highest Test score (58) in the company of Root from stumps yesterday to today morning session, the India seventh wicket partnership has so far contributed 42 runs as bowler Kuldeep Yadav is fighting it out with Jurel to end the day at 219/7, still trailing by 134 runs. The size of the lead to be conceded by India is very much going to decide the outcome of the match either in England’s or in India’s favor. However, should India crash to a defeat in the next two days, the behavior of this writer should not be labelled as ‘typical of an Indian supporter’, because during the next two or three days this writer happens to have some other engagement and may not be able to jot down the proceedings here, whoever wins or loses! Enjoy!

England Change Over from Bazball to Root Cricket! Ranchi, 4th Test, Day1

Although it wouldn’t be wholly correct to say that the visiting England team has lost the last two Tests thanks to their solid adherence to Bazball cricket, they apparently, trailing 1-2 in the five-match Series, did or had to change their tactics on the first day of the 4^th Test match that began in Ranchi today. To add to their ‘positive approach to Test Cricket’ they won the toss today choosing to bat first, and therefore, they decided to surge ahead with that aggressive cricket, the openers—Crawley (42) and Duckett (11)—keeping the run-rate nearly at five-an-over. One more debutant for the inexperienced Team India, pacer Akash Deep, replacing a roaring Bumrah for whatever reasons of ‘rest’ the selectors may have decided, however, got both of them out quickly including the danger man Ollie Pope for a duck in between them, and thus captured three scalps reducing England to 57/3, an ominous start batting first.  Nonetheless, Jonny Bairstow carried on with Bazball scoring 38 in 35, and maintaining the about-5 team run-rate. Unfortunately for him, the Indian spinners got active then and on a pitch that the English captain Ben Stokes reportedly condemned even before match began struck two vital blows—Ashwin dismissing Bairstow while Jadeja got Stokes for just 3 runs. Perhaps, Stokes, the co-founder of Bazball in association with Coach Brendon McCullum, was in a great dilemma about carrying on with Bazball or not wasting two or three overs in the process and before he could take the final call Jadeja consumed him.

In the meantime Joe Root was slowly spreading roots in the ground. He perhaps convinced his partner Ben Foakes (47 in 126) of the all-important changeover, and therefore, they began a phase of ‘Root cricket’ which has helped them stage a recovery with a partnership of 113 runs, when the team run-rate was just above three—a clear sign of traditional Test cricket. As the spinners were being defended quite easily by the ‘rooted’ cricketers India captain Rohit brought in Mohd Siraj who was Bazball-hit in his opening spell, and under ‘Root cricket’ he got a very well-set Foakes caught. Maybe Rohit capitalized on kind of a double changeover-woes for the visitors—first Bazball to Root Cricket and then onerous spin to sudden pace. Siraj continued to bowl furious sending Tom Hartley (13) too to the pavilion with England at 245/7 in 76^th over (run-rate reading 3.25 an over).

Why are we sort of ridiculing the Bazball approach? Well, this writer has earlier indicated that this kind of approach may not at all be good in the typical Indian pitches and should not be followed for the sake of it. Besides, there was quite a lot of international brouhaha over Bazball with former stalwarts questioning it or even cracking jokes about it. A few of them say that aggressive Test cricket is actually nothing new—teams like Australia among others having already demonstrated it on numerous occasions—and naming it Bazball now England cannot claim all the credit! Therefore, we also thought what could really go wrong if we too added in our contribution! All in the spirit of the glorious game, you see! Democracy must thrive at least in this beautiful gentleman game, if not in the countries that produce-enact it!

By the way! What are the crowds (in the picture above) celebrating for?  Definitely not for abandoning Bazball? Because, cricket fans, now fatally exposed to the irresistible charms of the shorter formats of cricket, would always love quick aggressive cricket! To put it more seriously, we also have welcomed result-oriented entertaining Test Cricket on numerous former occasions. However, Indian cricket fans don’t need no reasons to celebrate! I think I said earlier, in most probably in the IPL context, that Indian fans burst into merriment of the most boisterous order the moment the telecast cameras turn on them! Wonder of wonders! Even the most tensed-up suspenseful nail-biting faces dissolve into cheering bouts as the cameras explore and focus on them!

Joe Root, most deservedly, notched up his 10^th Test century, taking 219 balls to do that which is immensely traditional and this time helping England immensely too. Ollie Robinson, the replacement for Mark Wood, gave solid support to Root in evolving a crucial partnership in the last hour of the day. And they remained not out at stumps—Root on 106 and Robinson on 31 runs—a very important unbeaten partnership of 57 runs at the team score of 302 runs. The England supporters on the ground clapped emphatically as England reached the 300-run mark, because they like all of us know that scoring 300 in a day is very healthy—Bazball or no Bazball. The enthusiastic India cricketers, trying hard for an overkill perhaps, shouted ‘how’s that’ so much so intensely that their captain landed up exhausting all their reviews, and then the shouting turned hoarser as they knew they had none now to fall upon. Rohit took the last resort of Jaiswal as the bowler in the last over to break the partnership, but to no avail. In a Test in India anything above 300 is always considered good batting first, and England has crossed it with 3 wickets remaining. How well the batsmen of the most inexperienced Team India would reply is the all-important question for tomorrow even as the odd ball is already keeping low, and the England spinners have been very good in this Series so far. Definitely, this 4^th Test is set up!