In the soundtrack of India, cricket is a running song. Tests, ODIs, T20s, IPL the willow seems always on air. But the glut of games has messed up our heads. Theres a melody to every riveting contest that needs time to ripen into memories. The furious rush to market every moment, sadly, reduces the best of bouts to a blur. They are our only permanent takeaways.
But this India-Australia Test series is destined for immortality. Anyone who engaged with it can watch the reruns in their minds eye for the rest of their lives. For this series wasnt just about scoring runs and scalping wickets. No scoreboard can capture the grand human drama that played out over four Tests. The final outcome, 2-1 in Indias favour, was far more improbable than what the scriptwriters of Lagaan had conjured. This was Indias greatest Test series win ever.
Heres why: The travellers were wrapped in a claustrophobic bio-bubble for months. Indias premier batsman and captain Virat Kohli went on paternity leave after the first Test. The team had been decimated for 36, their lowest score ever. The visitors were barracked by racist chants and abuses, ravaged by injuries. None of the five top bowlers on the tour Bumrah, Shami, Yadav, Ashwin and Jadeja were available for the final game in Brisbane.
India could hardly put 11 fit players on the ground. A record 20 players turned out for the four-Test series. The combined wickets taken by Indias makeshift bowling unit before the Gabba game was 13. The Australian quartet of Cummins, Hazelwood, Starc and Lyon had 1,013 between them. The Kangaroos had never lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988.
Adversity poses questions. It tests your character, gnaws at your self-belief. But in the chaos, captain Ajinkya Rahanes men found inspiration. Whenever the team ebbed, someone found the flow. The team on display wasnt just the positive New India that Kohli had spoken about. This was a blend of the Old and the New.
The unflinching obduracy of Pujara, who took more blows to his body than a heavyweight boxer and batted for 1,368 minutes, typified the tenacity of Mohinder Amarnath of yore. He was Indias unshakeable Mountain Man. Hardscrabble batters are second-rate citizens in a country seduced by sixes. Pujaras patience and application were fundamental to Indias replies at Sydney and Brisbane. Before the series, the teams dominant global image was one of pampered, million-dollar babies. This series recast them as the hardy boys of the game. Australia is known for its fighting spirit, a bunch that never gives up. This team offered a taste of Australia to Australia.
This was a collective effort. Captain Rahanes match-winning 112 at Melbourne was singular. But he also emerged as a smart strategist, whos good at field placement and who can maximise frugal resources. The team synergised under him. But Indias biggest pleasures came from unlikely sources. Hanuma Vihari wont send IPL bidders into orgiastic frenzy. But even with a hamstring injury, he battled like the boy on the burning deck in the third Test. R Ashwin, also harangued by pain, rediscovered himself as a batsman. Together they stitched a match-saving partnership. Neither could play the next Test.
India again had its back to the wall at Gabba, where visiting teams were regularly hacked and hung out to dry. And it looked like rinse, wash, repeat as India was precariously perched at 186/6 with one-Test-old Shardul Thakur and debutant Washington Sundar at the crease. But once again, everyone had underestimated this teams stomach for a scrap. In tandem with Thakur, 21-year-old Washington produced his own version of Gettysburg, the epic battle that changed the fortunes of the American civil war. Against the worlds most potent attack playing in its pocket borough, they counter-punched, raising a 123-run partnership to keep India in the hunt.
For some, this tour was like graduating from boys to men. Shubman Gill announced himself as the next big thing of Indian batting, as the latest pay-to-watch batsman in world cricket. At Sydney and Brisbane, Rishabh Pant finally played two game-changing knocks that everyone had been waiting for. He has now earned a seat in the playing 11 on his batting alone. Only Rohit Sharma continues to underachieve abroad. He averages 88 at home and 27 abroad. It is up to selectors to make cost benefit analysis of his value to the side.
If the batsmen put up their hand, so did the bowlers. The bowling attack at Gabba was Indias most inexperienced since the country gained Independence. And yet they bowled out the hosts twice. Thakur took 7 wickets, Mohd Siraj claimed 6, including a vital fifer in the second innings. It was these hard triers who stand at the heart of Indias resistance and revival, who ensured India retains the Border-Gavaskar trophy and who have given India a great chance to play in the World Test Championship final at Lords coming June. The series underlined the power of the collective.
In India and in many other countries as well, the coach is the favourite fall-guy when things go wrong. It is only fair that coach Ravi Shastri and his backroom staff be given some credit for the triumph. To rephrase Dickens, the tour started with the worst of times and ended with the best of times. The vaccine is here. Against all odds, the Aussies were beaten again at home. 2021 is getting better and better.
Views expressed above are the author's own.
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A miracle Down Under: Indias greatest Test series win ever unfolded a script more improbable than Lagaan - Times of India
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