When India plays a Test series at home, the outcome is akin to that of an open-and-shut case. So much so that in little over a decade, the nation had won against every visiting team, the count being 16 on the trot until the end of 2023.
But against a near full-strength England that hadn’t lost a series since June 2022 home or away (four wins and two draws), there were a few jitters.
Inexperience
India also had an inexperienced side, missing Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami for the entirety of the campaign and the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, K.L. Rahul and Shreyas Iyer on and off.
Against this backdrop, the 3-1 win against Ben Stokes & Co. should rank among India’s finest. India lost the opener in Hyderabad in demoralising fashion but still bounced back. Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma handed debuts to four players — Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Akash Deep — and three of them performed remarkably well under pressure (the exception being Patidar).
Even resting star pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah for a match each — Visakhapatnam and Ranchi respectively — couldn’t dent India’s chances.
“Such victories don’t come often,” Rohit said after the win. “Playing a five-match series is gruelling. You have to find your way, keep fighting, whatever contest you are in, with the bat or the ball. You have to do that consistently over a period of five to seven weeks. So it’s quite pleasing.”
Right priorities
Rohit was particularly impressed with the youngsters’ “hunger”. This comes at a time when there is a feeling that players are prioritising IPL and the accompanying white-ball riches over red-ball pride.
Recently, the likes of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have been in the spotlight for missing Ranji Trophy matches and the BCCI has issued a stern warning to those skipping domestic games.
“We will give opportunity only to those who are hungry,” Rohit said. “All these guys who are here want to play. IPL is good no doubt, but this [Test] is the most difficult format.
“We have seen in the four matches that we have played; the three victories were not easy. We had to work hard, batters had to spend time in the middle and bowlers had to bowl long spells. I am happy that they [youngsters] have now got a taste of it.”
Window to the future
Rohit felt the ongoing series is a sneak peek into the Test team of the future. Sarfaraz, 26, scored two crucial half-centuries on debut in Rajkot; Akash, 27, flattened the English top-order in the first-innings in Ranchi before Jurel, 23, came up with a Player-of-the-Match performance.
“In a way you can say that, yes. Lot of these guys are quite young and you’ll see them playing for the coming five to 10 years regularly in this format. They have come with an open mind and that’s the kind of guys you need in the squad. Basically [those] putting the team ahead before the individual.
“Moving forward, that is a big plus. I know it’s still early days but they have shown that they have all the ability, all the skills to excel.”
Rohit stated that he didn’t see any player who had a chip on the shoulder even as he chucklingly described Yashasvi Jaiswal as still “hunky-dory.”
“A lot of these guys are quite grounded, to be honest. So they take that into their games as well. Our job is to make sure that the environment is right for them.
“They have spent a lot of time playing domestic cricket, so they are quite aware of this particular format, of playing longer innings, bowling longer spells. It’s important for us to know what their thinking is, and then obviously mix and match a little bit with what we think, and form a strategy. And that is what we’ve done in this series.”
