India vs Root, Anderson, and Rain
Written on August 24th, 2021 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}After the heroics in Australia, to spinning webs around the English when they came to visit, to the heartbreak of the World Test Championship Final, Indian test cricket has been on a rollercoaster ride since the resumption of the format post-COVID break. After choking once again in an ICC knockout, the pressure couldn’t be higher for team India and Kohli for them to reassert their dominance as the best test team in the world.
On paper, it looked like India’s series to win - experienced batsmen along with a hungry and stacked arsenal of pace bowlers. However, with big guns like Pujara, Rahane, and Kohli struggling for form, coupled with Jimmy Anderson and Joe Root going through a purple patch, seeds of doubt were planted in the minds of fans and pundits alike.
The First Test (Aug 4-8)
The game started with arguably the 2 most predictable things on the planet -
- Rain (petition to ban hosting cricket matches in England)
- Kohli losing the toss
Fortunately, the game finally got underway, albeit later than what we would have liked to see. Being made to bowl first, India made little work of the inexperienced England batting lineup, facing close to no pressure, with the exception of Joe Root who put up a fighting 64. Come India’s batting, all eyes were on KL Rahul, making his way into the team after Gill’s injury and his brilliant century in the warm-up game. The 2 openers started strong, seeing off the new ball, and went on to put a solid 97-run stand together before Rohit gave into his temptations and miscued a pull shot only to find the hands of Sam Curran. The much anticipated Anderson vs Kohli battle didn’t last long, with the Indian skipper once again pushing outside off and edging his first ball to Buttler, being sent back for a golden duck. Half-centuries from Rahul, Jadeja, and a remarkably handy contribution from Bumrah at the end were enough to take India to a healthy lead of 95 runs after the first half of the game. England’s second innings followed a plot awfully similar to their first, Joe Root once again fighting the battle alone. His efforts were enough to give England something to bowl at, leaving India with 209 to get with just over a day's play left. Despite the loss of KL Rahul, India got off to a solid start, Rohit looking fluent and Pujara uncharacteristically reaching double figures in less than 50 balls. They ended the day together, leaving themselves with 157 to get on the final day, having 9 wickets in hand - a very commanding position. Unfortunately, England’s 12th man (the rain), decided to step in for their team and washed out the last day, resulting in a draw. While this was certainly disheartening given the state of the game, there were still plenty of positives to take away from the game. The openers did a fantastic job in mitigating the threat of the tricky, swinging ball early on and showed incredible patience, skill, and determination. The pace attack also lived up to expectations with all of them picking up wickets and Bumrah returning to his devastating best, snagging 9 in the match. However, amongst all the positives, the abysmal form of India’s middle order was once again on display. England has their fair share of problems to address too. The inexperience in their batting lineup was far clearer than the skies during the 5 days at Nottingham, with Root supplying nutrients to a seemingly dry English stalk.
The Second Test (Aug 12-16)
There are few certainties in life - mess 1 seats getting over in a second, getting a bad PR number, and Virat Kohli losing the toss. Once again, the Indian captain got us all questioning what we learnt about probability in our 1-2 with more bad luck with the coin. Joe Root, trying to take advantage of the weather, put the Indians in to bat. Continuing right where they left off in the first test, Rohit and Rahul once again did a commendable job in seeing off the new ball and stitched together a vital partnership of 126 before Anderson was able to get through the hitman. Rahul went on to get himself on the Lord’s honour board with a gold-plated 129. More failures from Rahane and Pujara coupled with a patient 42 from the skipper and some contributions from Pant and Jadeja saw the visitors post a respectable 364. Good, but definitely disappointing after being 267-2 at one stage. England’s innings was once again orchestrated on the back of an effortless 180 from the England captain along with some handy contributions from Rory Burns at the top and Jonny Bairstow at the end. These performances were enough to give the home team a slight advantage going into the 2nd half of the game, but it was still wide open. Despite not adding to the scoreboard, the biggest talking point of the match to this point was Anderson’s time at the crease. Bumrah steered clear of his usual plan of cleaning up the tail with yorkers and decided to rattle the English strike bowler, giving him a bitter taste of his own medicine with a barrage of vicious bouncers all part of an extremely memorable 10 ball over, courtesy of Bumrah’s love for overstepping. The innings ended with Anderson visibly angry and giving Bumrah and the other Indians a piece of his mind. It took a while, but nonetheless, the fire we were all looking for was finally here. All charged up, India padded up, looking to get what bad weather denied them off in the first test. Alas, for the first time in the series, the openers failed to set a solid platform. Both of them were back in the dressing room with just 27 on the board, Rohit once more falling prey to his urge to pull. This was the point where most of us had accepted that it would either be a draw or loss, having close to zero expectations from our out-of-form middle order. Against the run of play, Rahane and Pujara stood tall and strong, staying together for around 50 overs and adding 100 runs to the scoreboard, giving us supporters a glimmer of hope. Much to our dismay, this hope was short-lived, with Rahana, Pujara, and Pant falling in quick succession and the lead just a paltry 170. What followed was arguably one of the greatest days in recent test history. Bumrah and Shami at the crease, having to face the music of the fire they had ignited the previous day. Wood did not hold back, giving Bumrah some chin music at over 90mph, in an attempt to unnerve the Indian ace. Much to everyone’s surprise, Bumrah and Shami negotiated these vicious deliveries with maturity we haven't seen in our tail for a long time. The frustration grew stronger and soon enough, the English bowlers began to completely lose the plot. The leaders of our pace attack settled in and began to cash in on the poor English tactics. An aura of invincibility had engulfed our two quickies and a collection of drives, cuts, edges saw the pair of bowlers put on a record 9th-wicket partnership of 89*, with the icing on the cake being Shami getting to his 50 with a 6 that would’ve made Sehwag proud before Kohli declared the innings. The Indians went into the final innings with the goal of bowling out the opposition within 60 overs, riding on the high of the unbelievable performances from Shami and Bumrah. The English on the other hand, were psychologically exhausted, shaken and probably a tad embarrassed too. Given their current mood, Kohli handed the new ball to Bumrah and Shami and the pair continued to impress, both of them striking in their first over, putting India in a commanding position early on. Haseeb Hamid fell cheaply too, courtesy Ishant Sharma. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow began to steady the ship and looked set to see them safely to tea. However, on the last ball of the session, Ishant trapped Bairstow in front of the stumps. Despite fervent appeals, the umpire didn’t budge. With not much time to play with, and Kohli being the trigger-happy person he is with respect to review, he sent the decision upstairs. DRS went on to show that the ball would have hit the stumps and the on-field decision was reversed, meaning India struck on the last ball before tea, needing to get 6 wickets in the last session to win a match that looked impossible at the start of the day. Shortly after tea, Bumrah struck back with the priceless wicket of Joe Root, putting India in the driver’s seat. Nerves began to creep in again for the Indians as Buttler, Ali, and Robinson started to block like their lives depended on it. With just 12-13 overs to go and 3 wickets still to get, Kohli brought in the least experienced bowler in the attack - Siraj. Despite his lack of experience, he seems to embody exactly what a fast bowler should be in Kohli’s India - quick, unpredictable, can move the ball off the surface, and most importantly, aggressive. The man from Hyderabad came steaming in and ended up making light work of the last 3 wickets, taking India to what seemed like an improbable result and the start of the day’s play. It’s no surprise that the scenes were incredible. That last day had everything a test match could ask for, from a wagging tail, sledging to quality fast bowling, and of course, a great finish. While Bumrah and Shami were certainly the chief architects of the comeback, one can’t forget the vital contributions from Rohit and Rahul in the first innings, and Siraj’s 8 wickets in the match.
In the post-match analysis, Sunil Gavaskar wasted no time in criticizing the English team, calling them a 2-man squad, which in all honesty doesn’t seem to be far from the truth. The hosts clearly have a lot of problems to sort out before the 3rd match. As expected, their batting lineup looked fragile for the majority of the match and their bowling was spearheaded by their aging (like fine Chapel Down) pro. With Buttler and Wood not available for selection for the 3rd match, the number of problems on their plate is probably more than the number of runs they let Bumrah and Shami score. Nevertheless, they have used the break to call in some reinforcements in the hope that a new-look batting line-up in the 3rd test may fare better. While India can ride the high of this victory, they’re not without their problems too. Their middle order has been exposed more often than not and it’s only a matter of time before Rahane and Pujara are seriously fighting for their places in the side. While they were able to stand up to the challenge in the 3rd innings, there are still question marks around the strike rate Pujara has been playing with over the last few years. While he has always played the anchor/wall role in the squad, the experienced number 3 has an SR of around 27 in the last few years. At a certain point, you need to start questioning how often games can be won with the main anchor struggling to score at an SR of above 40. Another cause of concern would be the number of extras the Indian bowlers have been conceding, they seem to be outscoring most of the English batsmen. Can both teams go back to the drawing board and nets to sort out some of these issues before they take each other on in Leeds? Only time will tell.
JC prediction - Kohli to lose the toss.
Also, given the number of incredible moments that the two tests provided us with, the witty netizens wasted no time in extracting the humorous side through some memes. Here are some of our favourites:
The World No.5 and No.8 have a long way to catch-up...
Someone seemed to have been caught ‘short’ in batting qualities...
Self-esteem is definitely at an all time high...
And finally, old habits always die hard...