By V.N. Prasad

Congratulations to ‘Team India’ on the series victory and on cementing the place in the World Test Championship (WTC) scheduled between 18th and 22nd of June in England — Southampton’s Ageas Bowl Stadium.

A series full of hiccups, uncertainties, disappointments, achievements, drams, surprises etc. in the ‘Done and Dusted’ series has left the lovers of the game in utter awe. Neither Michael Vaughan nor the world could have complained of the track at Motera in the last Test. 

Generally, new ball hitting the wicket-keeper’s gloves with a hard thump and hitting well above his rib-cage is considered good track. That perhaps was not consistently; but yet the pitch played fair. But, ironically, well accomplished batsmen caved-in and lower down won the accolades.

It is intriguing to see our batting performances in such a resounding series victory. Shubman 29/50, 0/14, 11/15, 0, Rohit 6/12, 161/26, 66/25, 49, Pujara 73/15, 21/7, 0, 17, Virat 1/72, 0/62, 27, 0 and Rahane 1/0, 67/10, 7, 27; nothing to raise brows, yet wrapping up the series with huge margins of 317 in the 2nd Test, by 10 wickets in the 3rd Test and an innings and 25 runs in the 4th Test.   Sounds incredible. 

Root and Co. will wonder for years as to what went wrong. And, to rub salt in the wounds of the English, there were 19 ducks in their batting summary. Not much came from the willows of established English batsmen either. Even after finishing a bottle of ‘Single Malt,’ I was unable to fathom the episodes on the 6th of March. Well, that is cricket.

In the melee two of our boys caught my attention. Axar, the Anand born Gujju settled in a small town called Nadiad, about 55-km away from Ahmedabad where facilities are poor for any competitive cricket. But his passion was demonstrated by the fact that he slept with a cricket ball in his bed daily. 

Apprehensive about a career in cricket, he almost chose to do Engineering. But his father, who was watching Axar closely with the cherry, advised him to pursue cricket. 

Axar played U-19 and for Mumbai XI and eventually debuted in this series. 27 wickets in 3 Tests (2/40, 5/60), 6/38, 5/32), (4/68, 5/48) is no mean achievement. His 43 in the final Test too was well-crafted. Best to him going forward.

The other youngster is the 21-year-old/ young Washy Sundar. Cricketing attributes were visible in his batting. 

Decisive foot forward, head fully bent over the ball, defensive blade well to the pitch of the ball at around 45 degrees, delightful drives in the ‘V’, smart square cuts and powerful flicks off the hips and toes were all a beauty to watch in him. He is extremely agile on the field. Unfortunate that luck was not with him to convert a well-crafted 96 to a magnificent century in the 4th Test. He has a long way to go in Indian cricket. He needs to sharpen his bowling skills though.

Chocolate boy, Rishab Pant, just 23, is a character — rare to match. Ravi Shastry mentioned that Rishab was given a stern talk about his casual approach both in batting and wicket-keeping. 

I personally feel that every errant youngster needs such heat from time to time. Result was well seen in the final Test. Highly improved glovemanship. With willow, his contributions of 91, 58 and that swashbuckling 101 were a treat to watch. One needs guts to try pyrotechnics against the world class  Jimmy Anderson. 

With 2nd new ball in 4th Test,  Pant’s audacious lofted off drive, an expansive cover drive (slaughter) and the proverbial “Dil Scoop” were all risk but delightful. He deserved Man of the Match (MoM) award.

Last but none the least, a mention of Ash’s role in the winning streak is praise worthy.  32 series wickets, only behind the legendary Chandra at 35, Ash was skilful with the cherry. Surprisingly, neither Prasanna nor Bedi nor Venkat have achieved the feat of 32. He richly deserved the Man  of the Series.

We keenly look forward to the T20s and the ODIs commencing from the 12th. Good luck to the boys.