By V.N. Prasad

The infamous ‘White Wash’ of our boys at home, triumph of our second team in South Africa, Cricket India, World Cricket Et al.

Cricket is a funny game. The year 2024 produced some tumultuous results. Test Cricket has lost the sheen after T20 was invented. ‘Diwali Cricket’; typically termed ‘Ball Baz’ cricket; will not do in Tests. Essence like ‘staying at crease, coming behind the ball, putting the head down etc,’ all seem to have been thrown to the winds. Umpteen Test series in recent times are winding up on the third day as the cherry starts turning square from the first day. In the batsmen, we see a fear complex rather than the conviction of a Sunil Gavaskar, G.R. Vishwanath, Sir Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jaques Kallis, Waugh Brothers etc. No. These days, batsmen look ‘panting’ at the 38-year-old Ashwin in the first session of Day 1. Sounds absolutely ridiculous. The curators seem to have forgotten the art of preparing Test pitches.

Could it be funnier than Pakistan losing to England in the first Test by an inning and 47 runs after piling up 556 in the first inning? The Test that produced three centuries by Pakistan, one double hundred and one triple hundred by the Englishmen. It turned out to be an ugly satire later as England lost the next two Tests to Pakistan; ending 2-1. Barring resolute batting display by Joe Root, there were inconsistencies everywhere and the English media went hammer and tongs.

Soon after, it was Pakistan Vs Bangaldesh. It was evident that; “One on One”; Pakistan team was stronger by any yardstick. But, Bangladesh pulled a ‘Rabbit out of the Hat’ beating Pak in the two Test series 2-0; by resounding 10 wickets and six wickets in the two Tests. Former Pakistan players were red faced to accept the results at the hands of a poorer but determined Bangla Tigers.

The confident looking Bangla team arrived in India for two Tests and three T20 series. Our guys beat the Bangla Tigers ‘Black and Blue’; winning the Tests 2-0 and T20 series; leaving them yellow faced. Whereas our bowlers did a magnificent job, the batsmen let us down badly. Rohit Sharma @ 10.5, Virat Kohli @ 24.75, KLR @ 35.33 strike rates looked terribly short of runs. For sure we won the first Test on account of brilliant knocks by Ashwin (113) and Jadeja (86) in the first innings. Bumrah, Ashwin and Jadeja bowled splendidly.

The ‘White Wash’

Then came the Kiwis to India to play a three Test series sans Kane Williamson and injured Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner. Will Young replaced Williamson while the part time off spinner Glen Phillips filled the gap of Santner. However, Santner did play in the second Test and grabbed 13 wickets in the Test. Results: 1st Test, Kiwis won by 8 wickets, 2nd Test: Kiwis won by 113 runs and 3rd Test: Kiwis pulled out a magnificent victory by 25 runs. Sad that we could not score a mere 147 runs in the second inning of the third Test. Eventually, it was a humiliating “WHITE WASH”. Return of Rishab Pant (261 runs) to Test cricket and Washington Sundar (16 wkts) and Ravidra Jadeja (16 wkts) were redeeming. For the Kiwis, Rachin Ravindra (256 runs) and Ajaz Patel (15 wkts) were star performers. Deservedly, Will Young was awarded the Player of the Series. We sportingly condone the White Wash as ‘One Off’ ending that only cricket can produce.

Meanwhile, hearty congratulations to our boys on their brilliant performance in South Africa. Outstanding performers being Sanju Samson with two brilliant hundreds, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy and others. All did us proud.

BCCI’s Weird Ways, Chopping and Changing frustrates

It needs guts for an administration to ask players to step aside and make ways for the young ones to be blooded in. In my personal opinion, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and K.L. Rahul need to step aside. Signing off ‘On-a-High’ needs conviction. We have umpteen examples in world cricket. Damien Martin, Waugh brothers, Sir Garfield Sobers, Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar etc. Benching the young, year after year, can be frustrating. Coming to the point, how is K.L. Rahul better than either Surya Kumar Yadav (SKY) or Tilak Varma? How is Ashwin better than Kuldeep Yadav or Washington Sundar or Axar Patel? By what yardstick can a Prasidda Krishna be better than Arshdeep Singh? And, why is Varun Chakravarthy not being groomed? And, how did Shardul Thakur and Natarajan wean off. Many questions. All due to the phenomenon called “Chopping and Changing”. Can there be anything more ridiculous than thinking of Pujara and Rahane today?

Is there a law in the ICC — “One Nation One Team?”

Thanks to Indian Premier League (IPL), talent is growing amongst the 1.45 billion impressively. Individuals are different. Talent Search Teams for Test Cricket, ODIs and T20s with different skill sets need to be established. Centres and coaches have to be different. Youngsters are generally confused. Mind training them and getting the best out of them would be the key. If England with 70 million, Australia with 27 million, New Zealand with 5.3 million, West Indies with 41 million etc have one team each, why or how is not appropriate for a country of 1.45 billion to have at least three teams? Has anyone in the BCCI ever thought of this, I wonder.

Well, congratulations to Rohit Sharma on the arrival of a baby boy. Best to him and his team against the OZs, down-under. Knowing that the OZ team is also ageing, we do hope that the agonies of the White Wash at home are wiped off.