India, England And A Summer to Remember
Written on September 12th, 2021 by {"login"=>"jcbphc21", "email"=>"f20181005@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"Journal Club", "last_name"=>"BPHC"}With the first two tests done and team India possessing a rare away series lead, Captain Kohli and his men eye an opportunity to claim a series victory in England after 14 years. With every player who got an opportunity to play, making an impact so far, this certainly looks achievable.
On the other hand, England has been outplayed by India so far in this series, with only Joe Root, James Anderson, and only a couple of other bowlers posing a threatening challenge to the Indians. The Englishmen will surely look to address the issues and script an epic comeback in the series, starting from the same venue where they made history two years ago.
The Third Test (Aug 25-28):
It is indeed a sane thing to believe in miracles that may seem to defy reasoning, like hoping for the campus to reopen during a pandemic wave, JC predictions going wrong, and Kohli winning a toss, just because sometimes, under even more miraculous circumstances, they do come true!
As the probability gods showered their blessings on Virat finally, he won the toss and chose to bat, hoping to repeat the heroics from Lords. Still, only time would tell how badly this decision would affect them.
Under pressure, England pacers provided a dream start for the home team in this game. With the shining red cherry in his hand and with the memories of banter from 2nd Test still afresh, James Anderson bulldozed through the Indian top-order within the span of a single spell. Legend has it that one can almost hear him scream, "This is my backyard," while celebrating each wicket. With assistance from Overton, Robinson, and Curran, India got bundled out for a mere 78 within two sessions, with only Rohit and Pant able to make double-digit scores from the whole team.
It was such a day at work for India, where nothing was going right. First, they were a part of a historic batting collapse, and next, they had to helplessly watch the English openers rack up a record-breaking century partnership, which was only their second one in the last five years. It was as if they were batting on a different surface. Except for a few missed chances and close calls, the batsmen were very much in control. Burns, his newfound opening partner Hameed and Malan all contributed with the fifties. Even when they got out eventually, India's bowlers got no time to breathe as their arch-nemesis Joe Root piled up his 3rd consecutive Test hundred to push the lead over 350, with still eight full sessions left in the game.
Unless Indian batters take a leaf out of Gambhir's book and play marathon knocks, the match was all but England's.
In their response to the deficit, India started the second innings well that at the end of day 3, they were 215/2 with Kohli and Pujara well set for reaching milestones. Headingley has always been a ground of miracles. The English players themselves know this fact very well after a historic knock by Ben Stokes in the same venue in 2019. But alas, as fate had it, there were no miracles for India this time. India's middle-order collapse had come to haunt them again at the wrong time. On a sunny day four at Headingley and with no apparent demons in the pitch, India surrendered to Robinson and co. by losing the rest of their eight wickets within 14 overs itself. The star-studded batting line-up had failed once again with major criticism towards Rahane for his lack of runs and Pant for his aggressive but irresponsible shot selection.
As a result, England won the Test by an innings and 76 runs to level the series at 1-1, with two more tests to go. All the problems from the English camp suddenly seemed to have shifted towards the Indian camp, and India had to find all the answers in just four days.
The Fourth Test (Sep 2-6):
The cricket frenzy in the UK returns back to London after a dramatic test. With the series still poised evenly between the teams, this match was expected to be nothing short of an entertainer. England had the momentum and history at this ground on their side, while on the other hand, India came into this Test with many batting issues and questions to ponder over their team selection. Will Ashwin finally get a match in this long tour?
Things were back to usual business again as England won the toss and put India to bat under the cloudy Surrey sky, typical English weather. The inclusion of Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes, Shardul Thakur, and Umesh Yadav were the highlights of the team selections. The major talking points were the persistence with Rahane despite repetitive failures and the non-selection of ICC second-ranked test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
Indian openers started cautiously but gradually lost their grip on the innings as the demons of past collapses were looming to haunt them. Despite a middle-order crumbling at the other end, Virat Kohli stood tall and scored a counter-attacking fifty. However, he wasn't able to stay longer at the crease. Soon enough, they were reduced to 127/7 with all established batsmen back in the pavilion. While England were joyously looking to bowl India out cheaply again, but unbeknownst to them, Shardul had other plans. He decided to unleash carnage upon the pacers. He made a mockery of Chris Woakes, who was sublime earlier that day, by taking him to cleaners. His lofted flicks, lofted on drives, pull shots all resulted in boundaries causing the crowd to go wild. This onslaught resulted in Shardul Thakur scoring a vital half-century off just 31 balls, the fastest in tests in England so far! Woakes was the one who finally got him out, and India ended up with the below-par total of 191.
Thakur's innings meant that India had a respectable total on such a surface, and most importantly, the confidence had received a massive boost. India utilized the new ball to its fullest, causing the openers to depart cheaply. But still, the most significant moment of the day was yet to come. It was an Umesh Yadav's jaffa that swung in sharp and seamed past Root's defense on its way to stumps, describing India's performance on the first day. The next day, England was reduced to 65/5 before a rescue act from Ollie Pope, and Chris Woakes took them to a giant 99 run first-innings lead.
It was still the evening session of day two at The Oval when India started their second innings, so a result was almost inevitable. England, with the lead, would have fancied their chances of victory better than India at this point. The Indian openers did just enough to ensure that they survived the tense, leading edges and dying moments of the day and that India was still in contention for a victory. Day 3 was when India started to believe in the victory. Rohit, Rahul, and Pujara were a class act and proved that discipline and trying to stay at the crease long enough eventually pays off big. Rohit deserves special credit for grinding hard through the difficult times and scoring his first overseas hundred when the team needed it the most. That six over long-on which brought him the milestone had 'Straight from Sehwag academy' written all over it. The bowlers could only pick up three wickets throughout the day.
Developments from the Indian camp that evening were both shocking and scary as the Indian coach, Ravi Shastri, was tested COVID-19 positive. The bowling coach, fielding coach, and team physio were deemed close contacts and kept in isolation. Uncertainty loomed over the match, but the Indian players, who had tested negative the previous day, took the field on day 4. The beginning of day four was disappointing from the Indian point of view as they found themselves at a familiar dark alley, a minor batting collapse. With a target of over 200 already set, India looked for ways to squeeze as many runs as possible from the remainder of the day. The first innings hero Thakur joined hands with Rishabh Pant to accomplish this task. Two quick knocks from these two and lower order contributions propelled India's total to 466 all out, the highest total of this series.
These fantastic 2nd innings batting from India meant that the target for England was 368, a number so huge that only once a target higher than this was successfully chased in England, all the way back in 1948. England had to survive four sessions or keep attacking, hoping that India would get under pressure without losing many wickets. England hoped to survive the remaining four sessions with the pitch flat and minimal help from the air. The English openers did an excellent job on day four, scoring 77/0 at stumps, setting up a nail-biting final day's play. England had to score a massive 291 runs on the last day to win, and India had to take all the ten wickets in the remaining three sessions.
The Oval welcomed everybody with clear skies for an exciting day. England players were optimistic; shouldn't they be? After all, they had seen how their best bowlers toiled for 150 overs on the same pitch. But what they missed out to consider was the sheer lethality of the Indian bowling they would face. Burns and Hameed started cautiously by finding gaps and running hard. But when Shardul Thakur, the man with a golden arm, was brought into the attack, he made Burns edge one to Pant in his first over itself. This marked the start of a cascade of wickets. Malan was shaky throughout his time in the middle, which ended with a runout, courtesy of a razor-sharp throw from the substitute Mayank Agarwal. Soon after, Jadeja, who was asked to bowl a lot on this surface, finally gets Hameed bowled. Then it was the time for Bumrah's unplayable spell. With two riveting deliveries, he took the wickets of Bairstow and Pope in successive overs. Ali departed for a duck, but when Root inside-edged one Thakur delivery to his stumps, that was when the final nail on the coffin was hit for England. The tail did not wag for too long, and when Anderson edged one to Pant, every Indian jumped with jubilation and pride for Team India scripted an epic comeback of many sorts. India had conquered Oval after 50 long years to take the lead of 2-1 in the series. This team showed yet again that, when they are bruised and thrown into a corner, they come back hard against all odds and strive for triumph.
This historic win set us for an enthralling week of test cricket in Manchester before COVID struck the Indian camp yet again. The assistant physio was tested positive on the eve of the game. Amongst these uncertainties, the Indian team was regrettably unable to field an eleven for the Test, and the match was canceled hours before the toss. Though there have been talks of rescheduling this match, the logistics are challenging to arrange. This might be the end of an epic series. The anticlimax of this story is that the series is abruptly concluded with no clarity on the series result nor with clarity on the happening of the test match in the future. But still, the four test matches provided great cricket action and plenty of drama - which included a pitch invader, who is allegedly an Indian fan, barging his way into the ground, putting the ground security norms in a questionable position.
Especially in the last two tests, despite India's stellar performance, it is to be remembered that they also have many issues to be dealt with, some of which got magnified in the 3rd Test. One of which is the need to make a tough call on Rahane's role in the team. Whether they believe in his ability and give him further chances, try a promising debutant in Suryakumar Yadav, or give test specialist Vihari a chance, a decision should be made very soon. From England's perspective, they still need to figure out the batsmen who will play around Joe Root and give them enough opportunities to understand their positions and roles better instead of constant shuffling and chopping. These are still early times in this WTC cycle, and so if the teams start working on the issues right away, the future looks prosperous for both of them.