Young and resilient Bharat lifts trophy in an emphatic manner at Dharamshala

Bharatiyas annihilate the English with ‘Gay Abandon’ at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium, Dharamshala, to lift the Trophy 4-1.

Heartiest congratulations to the young and resilient Bharat on lifting the trophy in an emphatic manner at Dharamshala. While the Englishmen were all at sea, not only at the HPCA but also in the other tests, our boys outdid them in all the departments of the game. There were several ‘Take Aways’ as the boys humiliated the English, beating them by an inning and 64 runs.

Hearty congratulations to Ravichandran Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow on their 100th Test appearance. Both have had ups and downs in their long career — but have given the cricketing world a lot of pleasurable moments that will be cherished for long times to come. Good luck to both and God bless.

Time to summarise the series logically. Before looking at them chronologically, a few aspects to mull over.

1. Absence of seasoned players like Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami, etc. offered opportunities for the young blood to bloom and all did with great fervour.

2. We feel sorry for Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar for not rising to expectations. But, they have the mettle in them. Akash Deep is an excellent seamer. He needs to wait for his time.

3. Our great appreciation for Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal, who were all directly responsible for the series victory.

4. We feel very sorry for Washington Sundar who had to warm benches. Axar Patel is an excellent All Rounder but hard to find a place in the current scenario.

5. For the Englishmen, it was a nightmarish series defeat. They have incurred the wrath of former English cricketers and the media.

In context, it is worth the while recalling statement of Graham Gooch — “In a Test Match, Daddy Centuries are needed to infuse interest and uncertainties.” How true going by the decades of cricket the world has witnessed! Did ‘Bazball Cricket’ let them down? Most certainly. It is a style adopted to approach aggressive batting to throw bowlers off rhythm and gain psychological advantage. But, that did them in eventually. Worst example was when Root threw away his wicket — reverse slashing a catch to Jaiswal at 2nd slip at Rajkot. Now, time to quickly go through the series — Test by Test.

First Test at Hyderabad

England won the toss and opted to bat first. What a line up — Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes! They crumbled at 246. Barring skipper Stokes who made 70, none other impressed. We responded with 436, with a lead of 190 runs. The question was “Did our boys squander chances to pile a mountainous lead?” Yes, and this is how. Young Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul and Jadeja failed to convert 80s to ‘Daddy Centuries.’ Lack of forethought gave England to strike back.

In the 2nd inning, they made 420, thanks to a brilliant 196 by Ollie Pope; but no ‘Daddy Centuries’ — lost opportunities by the English too. Ultimately, it was disheartening to see India lose the Test by a mere 28 runs; great bowling effort by the debutant spinner Tom Hartley who took 9 wickets in the Test.

Ollie Pope was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Second Test at Visakhapatnam

Winning the toss, India opted to bat first. Jaiswal hammered a brilliant 209, stylish and fearless inning that startled the English. We ended up at 396. Not a single 50 by others, let alone a ‘Daddy Century.’ Jimmy Anderson, at 41 plus, rattled us with 3 for 47 at 1.90 runs per over. What a great bowler.

One would have expected the English to consolidate and rebut powerfully. But, they crumbled to 253, conceding a lead of 143, substantial to return strong and gain the much needed psychological advantage. But our guys caved in for 255; only Gill came up with a stroke filled 104. Not a 50 by any other. What to talk of ‘Daddy Hundreds’? But for Axar Patel’s 45 and Ashwin’s 29, we would have been worse off.

English were left to chase 398. And all of a sudden, we were reminded of the 5th Test at Birmingham, 2022; where Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow plundered us Black & Blue — chasing 378. Sad that here, at Visakhapatnam, they folded up at 292 — conceding a 106 runs victory to us. Thanks to their ‘Bazball’ cricket.

Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Third Test at Rajkot

Emotions ran high as Sarfaraz was offered the Test Cap, witnessed by his father and wife. Alongside him, Jurel, son of a retired Havaldar of the Indian Army, too made is debut. Great opportunity for both, to be playing against England.

India won the toss and opted to bat first. Brilliant hundreds by skipper Rohit (131) & Jadeja (112) and a breezy 62 by Sarfaraz and a skilfully crafted 46 by Jurel enabled India to put on an impressive 445 on the board. At 331 for 7, Englishmen were looking down the barrel. But useful contributions from Ashwin (37) and Bumrah (26) helped us recover to an impressive total.

In response, England scored 319.     But for a brilliant 153 by the opener Duckett, none other touched even 50, inevitably reminding us of the lack of another ‘Daddy Century’. We took a lead of 126 runs, not any big lead — but good to build on.

Our 2nd inning was studded with a fierce 214 off 236 from opener Jaiswal, back to back Double Century. He stole the show with 14 fours and 12 sixes, all of them a treat to discerning cricket lovers. Gill was extremely unlucky to be Run Out at 91 — a well compiled one, truly deserving of his 2nd century in the series. Interestingly, Sarfaraz scored back to back half century (68); when Skipper Rohit declared the inning at 430, leaving the Englishmen to make an improbable 557 to win the Test. Agonisingly, they fell like a castle of cards for 122; conceding a 434 runs defeat — a big humiliation and embarrassment to English cricket — drawing the wrath of English media and former cricketers.

Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Fourth Test at Ranchi

I have covered the full match in my Cricket Talk titled ‘Bravo Bharatiyas’ published in Star of Mysore dated March 6. Dhruv Jurel was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Fifth Test at Dharamshala

Salient feature of the Test was that the legend, James Anderson became only the third bowler in the history of cricket to go past 700 Test scalps, behind only Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warne (708), as he had Kuldeep caught behind in the 1st inning.

With the Snow Capped Himalayan Mountains in the backdrop of the HPCA Stadium, it was a beauty to behold for three days and beyond words. Cameramen did splendid work zooming the beauty from several angles. Weather was much to the liking of English players and for the huge ‘Barmy Army.’ Befitting tribute would have been a competitive Test over five days. Alas! that was not to be.

Pitch report by experts was that the surface was well rolled and has a lot of runs. Ben Stokes called right and opted to bat first. Barring Zak Crawley’s well-compiled 79, none scored even a 50; leaving Graham Gooch, Geoff Boycott, Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Michael Vaughan and many in England questioning the very intent of the Englishmen. Kuldeep Yadav exploited the poor psyche of the English with 5 for 72. And, at his 100th Test appearance, Ashwin polished off the English tail with 4 for 51 as they folded off for a paltry 218 — an astonishingly poor display.

In response, Rohit was ‘Here and There’ in the beginning. Leading the remarkable exhibition of batting prowess was Yashasvi Jaiswal (57 off 58), concluding the series as the top run-scorer with an impressive total of 712 runs, featuring an astounding 26 sixes. Rohit settled down in the company of an astute Gill. Both tore English bowling apart with magnificent hundreds. Yes, both could have gone on to make ‘Daddy Hundreds’ — but they fell to peach (unplayable) deliveries. Debutant Padikkal (65) and Sarfaraz (56) came together in a delightful partnership. Lazy Southpaw elegance of Padikkal was a treat to watch while Sarfaraz went ‘Hammer & Tongs.’ At 477, India had the lead of 259, pretty sure of winning the Test hands down.

With the new ball in 2nd inning, Ashwin bowled intelligently to create early inroads dismissing Duckett and Crawley, both foxed/ flummoxed — reminiscent of E.A.S. Prasanna’s brains. Though the ‘war-horse’ Joe Root held one end to script 84, all others around buckled, as England ended with a poor looking 195 — conceding a defeat by an inning and 64 runs, a nightmare that will surely haunt them, former English cricketers and the media for a long time to come.

Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged the Player of the Match while young Yashasvi Jaiswal was named the Man of the Series.

Well, it is all over now. We only hope that our boys perform with the same gusto in a series in England. That would surely send a strong message about our young and evolved team. For now, we stack up our refrigerators with chilled beer and look forward to the coming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), starting on March 22.