This the script co-written by Srijan and Neha for Episode 35 of Never on the Backfoot Podcast. Enjoy:’)

Welcome to the review and analysis episode of the India vs England ODI series. It was a very exciting series considering we had the top two sides contesting and man, were all the matches high scoring. We witnessed some good quality batting and bowling coupled with Virat Kohli, unfortunately, losing the toss on all three occasions definitely helped as India batted first and in crunch situations, we really got to see some good performers and someone taking responsibility.

On the podcast today joining me for the comprehensive analysis of the ODI series, we have Srijan. To talk about our guest today, Srijan is an ardent cricket fan and enthusiast. Currently doing his Bachelors in Economics, Political Science and Sociology at Christ University, Bangalore. He really enjoys the game and his love for the game is not defined by who is playing, how, when and where. Srijan is of the opinion that one’s love for the game shouldn’t be defined by who is playing the sport. It should rather be on how it is played and on the game itself. Ultimately no one is greater than the sport. Though he never really played the game on a professional level, he really enjoys watching and talking about the game to anyone and everyone. 

Before we get started with the topic, just a couple of questions to acquaint our listeners about you and your love for the game.

1. So, what got you first interested in the game? Tell us a bit about yourself as a cricket fan and your early memories of this sport.  

So to speak about myself, I am probably someone who rarely played cricket. I first got interested in the game thanks to a Samsung mobile phone! Back when smartphones were a thing, I would be playing this cricket game on that phone for hours together. As weird as it may sound, this game was the reason I gained interest in the sport and got to know all the basics of the game. My earliest memory of watching the game live on the TV after this was probably in the summer of 2010. Chris Gayle was the latest recruit for RCB and was smashing sixes in the Chinnaswamy at will. The time I started watching the game properly was the 2011 World Cup final and the subsequent IPL. After that, I would go on to play cricket games on the computer and browse on for more information on players on Cricinfo and Wikipedia.

2. How was it like playing cricket in school or in your childhood and your fondest memories?

As I said earlier, I am probably one person who rarely played the game and yet I am so deeply fascinated by anyone and everyone who played the game. Even while at school, I used to get fascinated by watching my friends and juniors play the game from a distance. Having said that, it is not like I never played the game or held the bat in hand. Whenever I could find some time, I made sure to play with my friends on the street and at the local playground. I always made sure to do anything that kept me occupied on the ground. Batting, bowling, wicketkeeping, I was always ready to do anything. Those days, which were my initial days familiarizing myself with the sport remain my fondest memories growing up with the sport

3. Who was your favourite cricketer growing up and who is it currently?

Actually, this one is a very interesting question. Whenever I get asked this question by someone, I always say that I love the sport overall and I don’t have anyone particular favourite since I firmly believe that no one is above the sport itself. But if I had to pick just a few, one of them surely has to be Ravichandran Ashwin. My love for Ashwin is also fuelled by the fact that his residence is just a couple of streets down from where I live in Chennai and also that Ashwin studied in the same school that I studied in. Also, my start to watching cricket coincided with Ashwin’s rise as a bowler after having a phenomenal IPL in 2010 and his breakthrough to the Indian team.

Over the years, his mastery with the ball has made me admire his skill and work ethic as well. I don’t think we have too many bowlers who put in so much thought behind their bowling and make elaborate plans for each and every player in the opposition. I still vividly remember his ball to Hashim Amla in the World T20 in 2014. Ah! Talking about it makes me want to go watch it again!

4. Your favourite match of all time.

My favourite match of all time definitely has to be the 2011 World Cup final. Purely because it was my first proper memory of watching the game live on TV. I had made sure I had everything ready by the time the match began at 1:30 in the afternoon. I remember making notes on paper of each batsman’s score and each bowler’s match figures. That was probably the best match I have ever watched because I had literally zero expectations and was entering into a new world with a fresh mind. And the way Dhoni finished it off was just icing on the cake. That for me served as a motivating factor to try and know more about the sport. Ravi Shastri’s concluding words in the comm box still ring in my ears to this day. Ravi Shastri was another person who had a telling influence on my liking of the sport. Whenever I play a game on my phone or on the ground, I try to add my own commentary to it. It does seem odd for someone who is watching me from a distance but I thoroughly enjoy the process.

5. Your fondest memory of having gone to a stadium to watch the match and your experience

Actually, to be very frank, to this day, I have gone to the stadium only once! It was the Champions League match in Chennai and the game was CSK v TT. This was in the year 2011, again my formative years of watching cricket. TT was restricted to an under-par total thanks to some good bowling by all the bowlers and Ashwin had a good night too, returning with figures of 1/25 of 4 overs. And then came the Chennai Super Kings batting innings and that never got going thanks to some superb bowling by Sunil Narine who had match figures of 3/8 of 4 overs. MS Dhoni scored 7 of 22 balls. CSK narrowly missed the target by 7 runs. After that I tried getting tickets for matches at Chennai but was unlucky on most occasions. I almost got tickets for the recent Test at Chennai but I backed out at the last minute because of Covid fears.

6. What is the positive impact of this sport on your life?

I tell everyone about this! I feel that metaphorically, Test Cricket is not a game but a way of life. Teaches us to keep fighting with all the odds until we reach our target. Teams might be down in the dumps at the end of one session but may be right back on top by the end of the next session through pure grit, determination and courage. When things have not gone my way, I have found solace in cricket and also at my best, I have celebrated by watching cricket. 

7. Which is your favourite cricket book of all time?

I actually enjoy reading autobiographies of cricket. When in school, I had read Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography about 5-6 times from the school library without getting bored. The librarian even offered me that book to take it home and keep it as a memorabilia when I left 12th but I declined! I recently read a book that Bharat Sundaresan has authored called The Dhoni Touch: Unravelling the Enigma That Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I also plan to read a book called Cricket Drona: For the Love of Vasoo Paranjape authored by his son Jatin Pranjape who served as one of the selectors for the Indian men’s team from 2016 to 2017. Vasoo Paranjpe was a cricket coach based in Mumbai and he has had a hand in the formative years of many of Indian cricketers from Mumbai

8. Do you feel IPL is still a threat to the longest format of the game?

The answer to this question is both yes and no. Yes because the advent of T20 cricket has almost made qualities such as building an innings and batting time with patience, qualities that are essential for any Test batsman. The game became too commercialised with the fast paced nature of the game attracting viewers and revenue. In the past players have chosen to play various T20 leagues around the world over Test cricket but that is changing now. With top flight cricketers such as Virat Kohli highlighting the importance of the format. The ICC is also proactive in scheduling and actively promoting the game. 

No because with the advent of T20 cricket, batsmen have started playing fearless cricket. To chase 320+ runs on a day 5 pitch at the Gabba would have been unthinkable 10 years back. Rishabh Pant literally played Nathan Lyon out of the game in Sydney, all this is thanks to T20 cricket. It has changed the approach of the batsmen. They now think that any target is chasable.

9. Do you have an all-time XI?

Yes! My all time XI would be Hyden and Langer,Sachin, Ponting, Lara, Kallis, Gilchrist, Warne, Wasim, Waquar and Steyn.

Neha: Would’ve loved to ask you more questions and listen and live your experiences but let’s now jump straight into our topic.

We will start off by focussing on the summary of the matches, a special shoutout to Nitin Menon, Shikhar Dhawan’s form, Jonny Bairstow’s imperious form, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow at the top of the order and their partnerships in comparison to the resurrection act that Pandya and Pant, Sam Curran’s whirlwind knock in the final ODI, Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya’s debut, Hardik bowling and what an advantage it is for India, Morgan’s injury and take on Buttler’s captaincy, Bhuvi’s rich vein of form from the T20I series, India’s concern for the poor form of spinners in the limited-overs set up and the inability of India to get wickets first up in the powerplay and how that adds on to pressure are some of the pointers covered in this first part.

Let’s get started on our analysis and review episode of the ODI series. 

Neha: Summary of the matches:

In the 1st ODI, India put up a formidable 317 on the board and Dhawan top-scored with 98 with KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya (mind you on his debut) chipping in with handy knocks of 62 and 58* respectively ensuring we had the decent total on the board. England in reply could only manage 251 and although Bairstow scored a scintillating 94, a brilliant spell by Prasidh Krishna with 4 wickets and Shardul Thakur with 3 turned things around for India in restricting and dismissing England.

In the 2nd ODI, India was bolstered by a brilliant 108 by Rahul, 77 of Pant and 66 of Kohli that propelled them to a very competitive and defendable 336. England was off to a flyer and Bairstow top-scored with a brilliant 124 and with Stokes contributing with that 99 and Roy with a 55 wrapped things easily and England won the match and levelled the series 1-1.

In the 3rd ODI, India lost the toss yet again and put to bat first put up 329 on the board. There were some phases where the sporadic loss of wickets meant India couldn’t capitalise on the partnerships and England was good in restricting India but a solid knock from Pant, Dhawan and Pandya ensured we had a good-ish total. But England definitely did not give anything away whilst chasing staying in the hunt with some handy knocks of Livingstone and Malan actually working for them. The beautiful effort from Curran, a magnificent 95 and India’s poor fielding ensured this was going to be a nail biter but India pulled things back in style and finally won the match thanks to a very good death over by Nattu and we won the series 2-1.

Srijan: Shoutout to Nitin Menon

Yes! He has surely been the find of this series. In the Covid-era where teams had to make do with local umpires, Nithin Menon really carved a niche for himself. To give our listeners some stats, 40 referrals: Five upheld, 12 Umpire’s Call, 23 Struck Down

Of the 35 LBW referrals, only two were overturned. (Stat credit @deeputalks on Twitter). That is mind-boggling stuff. We sadly don’t talk about Indian umpires often but with Nitin Menon, we surely should start highlighting our Indian umpires more on the global stage.

Neha: Shikhar Dhawan’s form:

The series was particularly important for the 35-year-old Shikhar Dhawan, who returned to the bench after one T20I and is facing stiff competition in this format from rising youngsters. With the management having plenty of options inside the squad (Shubman Gill) and waiting on the outside (Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal) for the opening slot, it was a litmus test for Dhawan to prove himself in the opener and he was in good touch proving himself still relevant in this format. 

Srijan: Jonny Bairstow’s imperious form:

Jonny Bairstow has been the lynchpin of England’s batting at the top of the order ever since England started their transition in trying to be a more potent force with the bat in the limited-overs format and he is a quality player. Unfortunately, due to England’s rotation policy, he couldn’t contribute much in the Tests or the T20Is, but come the ODI series, Jonny Bairstow really showed his class. With Root missing the ODI leg of the series and Morgan unavailable due to injury, Bairstow’s contributions at the top of the order were of even more significance and true to his nature, Bairstow really played well and deservedly got the MoS award.

Neha: Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow at the top of the order and their partnerships in comparison to the resurrection act that Pandya and Pant have to do at the fall of wickets

The pair average 61.60 as an opening partnership – among opening pairs to have batted together in at least 20 innings, they stand at the top of the pile. Only four other ODI opening pairs have more century stands than them. They’ve been prolific throughout and they also have the highest run-rate, operating at 7.02 runs an over. The pair seem to bring the best out of one another. Since Bairstow’s promotion to the top of the order in 2017, Roy has averaged 45.55 when he’s played in the same side as the Yorkshireman, five runs more than his career average. Bairstow himself has looked the part from day one as an ODI opener, with his record up there with the best in the world. We saw how well they performed in the ODIs and it is a testament to the brilliance and quality of their batting.

In comparison, when we see India we have Rohit and Dhawan opening. While England go hard at the bowlers right from the word go, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are generally content being there out in the middle by the end of the 10th over and then picking pace. The signs of a change in their approach were finally visible in the series decider when Dhawan started to go hard up top. But India’s plans appeared to go for a toss when they lost their top three in three overs. Dhawan, Rohit and Virat Kohli have done the bulk of the scoring for the national side in this format over the last few years and losing all three before the 18th over already posed a challenge on a wicket where a huge total was needed. 

Instead of following the old template of trying to resurrect an innings by being watchful and then going hard at the end, the finishers paved the way for India going forward by continuing to go for the kill despite being on the backfoot. Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant stuck to the plans of going hard against the spinners and it was controlled aggression at its best where a team managed to turn the tables in a matter of a few overs despite appearing to be in trouble. Their enterprising partnership also reinforced the belief that India doesn’t always need one of their top order players to bat deep into an ODI innings.

Srijan: Sam Curran’s whirlwind knock in the final ODI

Sam Curran was absolutely brilliant in the 3rd ODI. I really liked the way he played the situation when the chips were down. Unfortunately, England couldn’t cross the line but he made a really good case for himself to bat higher up the order. Netizens noticed shades of MS Dhoni in the way he was denying strike to Mark Wood and put the onus on himself to try and make England win the match and called it the CSK effect which is true to some extent. With this performance, Sam Curran has showcased his ability to bat long and play according to the situation. Overall these are good signs for England.

Neha: Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya’s debut 

These were some very interesting faces that we got to see featuring for India in the playing 11. Debutants Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna made the big stage their own as Krunal scored a magnificent 58 off 31 and smashed the fastest fifty by a debutant to fire India to 317. It was an emotional moment for the man and it was seen how he was acknowledging at each stage his father’s untimely demise and it was great to see him effortlessly bat. 

Prasidh Krishna on the other hand registered brilliant bowling figures by an Indian debutant as he scalped 4 wickets. Having leaked 37 runs in his first three overs, came back strongly and troubled the batsmen with his ability to generate extra bounce. Very impressive debuts I must say. 

Srijan: Hardik bowling and what an advantage it is for India

Hardik’s bowling has been one of the key takeaways from this series. In the T20Is he consistently bowled 4 overs at a good pace and at times bowled with the new ball too. These are actually good signs for India to see Hardik be fully fit and bowling at full tilt. I, to be very honest, was quite surprised to see him not bowling in the first two ODIs, especially after having seen him bowl consistently in the T20Is. He came back with the ball in the 3rd ODI and that made quite the difference. To bowl 9 overs for 48 runs was a great achievement considering all the other bowlers from both sides were going for a handful. He might have not got any wickets to show for his efforts with the ball but the fact that he offered control from one end along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended up deciding the match in India’s favour in my opinion. 

Hardik bowling at full tilt changes the dynamics of this Indian limited-overs side. This only augurs well for the team going into the future.

Neha: Morgan’s injury and take on Buttler’s captaincy

Eoin Morgan had been ruled out of the remainder of the ODI series against India with a hand injury. Jos Buttler captained in his absence and did a decent job. In the past, Jos Buttler has led England 11 times in limited-overs cricket, with his first captaincy stint coming in 2015. 

Morgan sustained a split webbing between his thumb and index finger in the series opener that required four stitches. While he took part in the fielding drill on Thursday, he declared himself unfit soon after. Dawid Malan came in for him and impressed scoring a tricky 50 stalling what was going to be a sweet win for India.

Srijan: Bhuvi’s rich vein of form from the T20I series

Bhuvi’s return to the side in the T20I series and the subsequent ODIs has to be the biggest gain of this series for India. This is even more than the fact that Hardik’s back bowling at full tilt. And Bhuvi being Bhuvi literally picked up from where he left off. To give our listeners some stats, while bowlers from both sides went for a lot of runs, Bhuvi was heads and shoulders above all of them. While the average econ rate of the bowlers was about 6.60 in the ODIs and 8.49 in the T20Is Bhuvi was going at about an astonishing 4.65 in the ODIs and 6.38 in the T20Is. Let that sink in! Tells us how valuable a player Bhuvi is to this Indian side! I was actually surprised he didn’t get chosen for the Man of the Series award. He single handedly won the series with the ball for India

Neha: India’s concern for the poor form of spinners in the limited-overs set up 

The Indian spinners have undoubtedly had a torrid time with the ball in the limited-overs set up. Washi, Chahal have been expensive ever since the T20I series and the story was no different with Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya who leaked runs in the first ODI. To put this in perspective, Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya – who combined went for 127/1 in 19 overs – were unimpressive. 

Krunal, after conceding 36 in his first three overs, managed to pull things back but Yadav looked listless in his nine overs and in the many series he has featured. The Chinaman bowler, who has been regularly overlooked for a place in the XI in the last few months, couldn’t do any good to his future prospects. His numbers show a worrying trend. Yadav who had been picked as a mystery spinner after the 2017 Champions Trophy, took 93 wickets at an average of 23 and an economy rate of 4.95 till the 2019 World Cup. After that, he has averaged 51.41 for his 12 wickets, conceding 6.1 runs per over.

In Yuzvendra Chahal, India has an able replacement but bringing in the leg-spinner could be a risk against a batting line-up comprising attacking left-handers like Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran. Besides, Krunal, whose place in the team looks assured thanks to his 31-ball 58* on debut in the first ODI, also brings the ball into the left-hander. Washington Sundar is the other spinner in the squad but India may not be confident of using him as a lead spinner in the ODIs.

Srijan: Inability of India to get wickets first up in the powerplay and how that adds on to pressure

Yes. If anything, that has been one area of concern for the Indian team since the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup. A large part of India’s success in ODIs had been that Bhuvi and Bumrah take wickets upfront leaving it for the spinners to do the damage in the middle overs. A stat that I recollect right is that India win 50% matches when they take 2 or more wickets in the first 10-15 overs. We had Bhuvi and Bumrah with Shami to do the damage in the first 10 overs with Chahal and Kuldeep doing the rest in the middle phase. With our mainstream attack missing out due to the fact that they were either rested or injured meant that taking wickets upfront was difficult.
Against a team such as England who go out with all guns blazing right from the start, it is very important to get wickets to restrict them to a good total. That is surely one thing that India missed having. Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy got off to a flyer in the 2 ODIs and nearly won the game for England in one of them. 

I am sure that with the return of Bumrah and Shami things will get better. 

In early 2020, when India went to New Zealand, this is one area that they struggled in and also in Australia where India lost the series you see our inability to pick wickets upfront so this is one thing that the team management must have made note of and are definitely working on

With this, we draw the curtain on Part 1 of this series. Srijan will be joining us for the last  part and we will be exploring other aspects of the ODI Series and would love to have you listen to us.

Part 2:

Neha: Welcome back to Part 2 of this series. We have Srijan with us on the Podcast and we continue our discussion on yet another set of very interesting takeaways and pointers from the ODI Series. 

We’ve delved largely into, Ben Stokes, the handy all-rounder, India losing the toss continuously and the pressures of batting first, KL Rahul’s dominance, Nattu’s death bowling, Mark Wood’s pace, Rishabh Pant, the man we need in the limited-overs set-up, India’s shocking fielding in some parts of the series, players we sorely missed out on, A case for Shardul in the limited-overs set up (highest wicket-taker), Virat Kohli’s inability to convert them to those 100s, the ideal #4 for India, positives for England and India, India’s comprehensive win across all formats, Bio bubbles and players mental health, the possibility of a rotation policy like England among the plethora of topics discussed. Welcome back to Part 2.

Neha: Ben Stokes, the handy all-rounder

Ben Stokes definitely has to be a positive for England. Throughout the series, he has been instrumental and his consistent rise in international cricket has been laudable. Buttler said that Stokes’ batting has improved over the years and man, it has. Partnering Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes played a knock of 99 as they put up 175 on the board with that partnership and England defeated India with 39 balls to spare to level the three-match series 1-1. In the 99-run knock, Stokes hammered 10 sixes and he took a special liking to India’s spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya. He’s a good player at any place and has always raised the bar making him a valuable player for any team he plays. 

Srijan: India losing the toss continuously and the pressures of batting first

On the lighter side, to start off I think as Eoin Morgan had mentioned, the coin that was used in this series was a double-headed coin! But seriously though I think that as Virat Kohli mentioned, this has been one thing that the team has been wanting to do for a long time. In the T20I series, despite losing the toss India successfully defended targets on dewy outfields in Ahmedabad. Here in Pune, once again India batted first on all three occasions. I am a firm believer that toss is not in control of any one individual and the team that plays good cricket in all three facets of the game batting bowling and fielding deserves to be winners of the game. India ended up defending targets for most part of the series. This was especially good because we were doing it with a relatively inexperienced attack

Neha: KL Rahul’s dominance

Rahul has managed scores of 62* and 108 in the 1st 2 ODIs and looked in good touch considering what a torrid T20 series he had. Batting in multiple positions has enabled Rahul to change his game as per the situations of the matches. In the T20Is, however, it was Rishabh Pant, who not only batted well but kept wickets neatly too and that led to calls for snubbing Rahul from the ODIs as well. Now, it was a complete case of mixing formats. Very conveniently, his exceptional ODI run in the middle-order was forgotten. In lead up to the ODIs against England, Rahul, from the point of time, started batting in the middle-order, averaging 56.57 with a strike-rate of 111.23, crossing the 50-run-mark four out of eight times. He was lacking game time, and the moment he got that, he shunned his critics in style scoring 62*, 108 and 7 in the England series. It’s high time that people stop mixing formats and branding players writing them off even before the actual game is played. 

Srijan: Nattu’s death bowling

Nattu’s death bowling has certainly been a huge plus for this Indian side this season. When he came into the side in Australia, not many of them expected him to do wonders. Yes, over the years, Natarajan had built his reputation of being able to bowl pinpoint yorkers but he was largely untested at the international stage. The way he came to the side and delivered without being unfazed of the big stage is one of the biggest takeaways this season. Natarajan’s availability also means that we have variety in our attack. The elusive left arm pacer’s spot that we’ve been longing for since Zaheer Khan’s retirement is finally taken up by someone. When all the first choice players are fit and readily available, Natarajan+Bhuvneshwar Kumar+ Bumrah at the death will be a treat to watch. Once again, Natarajan’s rise at the international level is thanks to the IPL and the TNPL for unearthing talents such as these.

Neha: Mark Wood’s pace 

Mark Wood genuinely has been so impressive and already possesses the ability to intimidate batsmen with his express pace. His raw speed was a highlight of the T20I series against India, as Mark Wood consistently hit the 150 kmph mark. He ended the series as one of the fastest bowlers on the circuit, with his pace troubling the Indian batsmen on multiple occasions. Wood’s pace has always been a key feature of his game. Mark Wood ended the T20I series as England’s second-highest wicket-taker as he picked up five wickets in four games and played a key role in the visitors’ two wins in the series but the ODI series was different for him. Wood revealed how his stint with the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League helped him learn quite a few things, especially the art of bowling slower balls, Shardul Thakur.

Neha: Rishabh Pant, the man we need in the limited-overs set up

Rishabh Pant scored 155 runs in two innings at a strike-rate of 152 and was in solid form. Pant’s knock in the 3rd ODI followed his another thunderous innings of 77 off 40 in the second ODI where he made 78 runs in 62 balls after he was omitted from the first ODI. He should learn to capitalize on his starts and convert those in hundreds. He can develop the habit of converting his fifties to hundreds if he is just a little more mindful but very impressive and the solidity he offers is unparalleled. He is someone we need in the limited-overs set up as he can contribute a lot and we’ve seen what a talent he is. 

He hit a total of 11 maximums, the most by an Indian batsman in the ODI series and 8 boundaries. It was a very smart move to push Pant up the order. India lost players Sharma, Dhawan and Kohli, and the pressure was mounted on India. But Pant played an important role in releasing the pressure and has partnered Pandya well on so many occasions executing his role to perfection. 

Srijan: Players we sorely missed out on

Some of our key players in the side such as Jadeja, Bumrah and Shami were missing from the squad due to the fact that they were either rested or were injured. In some situations, I did feel the lack of someone like a Bumrah or a Shami at the death because of the lack of control from the other bowlers except Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In retrospect, bowlers from both sides went for plenty during the death but having someone who could restrict the flow of runs as well as take wickets was sorely missed. Shardul took wickets in heaps but also went for a lot of runs (that is a tradeoff worth living with. Plus, he offered something with the bat in the final ODI) having said that, India’s bench strength is so strong that the player who comes in as a replacement performs well so that the original player’s absence is not felt. We saw that with Axar Patel with the ball in hand in the Tests and Krunal with the bat in the ODIs but neither of them are as good as Jadeja with the bat or ball respectively. The other option had to be Washington Sundar but he offers more control than wickets with the ball so yes, in some parts the likes of Bumrah, Shami and Jadeja were missed but overall, it was quite for India that different players stood up at different times to deliver match winning performances for their side.

Neha: India’s shocking fielding in some parts of the series

India’s fielding has been very disappointing for the better half of the series. To India’s relief, they didn’t have to pay a heavy price for the missed chances as they got over the line. Michael Vaughan, the former England cricketer, has taken a sly dig at the Indian players for dropping quite a few catches in the third and final ODI. At the MCA Stadium in Pune, Team India dropped as many as four catches while defending 329, but the missed chances didn’t cost them as the hosts won by seven wickets to seal the series 2-1.

To start with Hardik Pandya dropped Ben Stokes near the boundary downtown. Thereafter, Pandya let go another chance, this time of Sam Curran, who also got another lifeline when T Natarajan dropped him. Shardul Thakur also failed to catch the ball when Mark Wood mistimed a pull shot. “It’s most disappointing for the guy who drops the catch, but as much as you get disappointed, catches get put down and sometimes they cost you. There’s no lack of intent, and our body language was outstanding. Eventually, we got over the line,” Kohli said in the presentation ceremony.

Srijan: A case for Shardul in the limited-overs set up 

Shardul surely makes a compelling case for himself to be the automatic starter in the XI the next time India comes together for a series. Shardul has got a good short ball, a knuckle ball and also a good yorker all of which he uses to good effect. He can bowl with the new ball as well as come back to bowl at the death. 

He offers a bit with the bat as well and since the selectors have always been looking for bowlers who can offer a bit with the bat as well, once Bumrah and Shami return we might also see only one of them playing. Shardul’s batting abilities may also mean that we finally see Chahal and Kuldeep playing together. Lately India has been able to accommodate only one of the two since the tail might get too long. Shardul, Bhuvi, Chahal, Kuldeep, Shami/Bumrah offer 5 quality bowling options with Hardik being the 6th bowling option. Also, both Chahal and Kuldeep’s returns are far better when both of them play together than in isolation, so, in short, interesting times ahead for Indian cricket!

Neha: Virat Kohli’s inability to convert them to those 100s

If stats haven’t been thrown all-around since last VK got to his ton, have you seen Twitter, tabloids and pretty much anyone who is waiting for that 71st ton from the skipper’s bat. Virat Kohli said that he scored so many centuries early on in his career because he was never focused on them. Kohli was dismissed for 66 by Adil Rashid in the 2nd ODI and it was his 2nd consecutive fifty in this series, but he once again missed out on a hundred. 

Kohli’s innings was crucial in the middle as it came after India had lost the two openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan quickly, and the hosts were in need of a solid partnership. Kohli’s partnership of 121-run with KL Rahul set the stage for India’s heavy-hitters to do the job in the death overs. He has been very good in the middle and has helped steady the ship, play the role of the anchor and has definitely captained the team. 

Virat Kohli stressed that he has never played for personal milestones in his career, and always looked after the team’s cause. Kohli’s remarks came at the post-match presentation ceremony after he was questioned about his century drought following India’s 6-wicket defeat in the 2nd ODI against England in Pune. Kohli’s last century was back in November 2019 in the Day/Night Test against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. His last ODI hundred was back in March 2019 against Australia. I think we should just give him some breathing space and time and I’m sure those gritty 70s and 80s will get converted to the big 100s.

Srijan: Who’s an ideal #4 for India (Iyer, SKY or Kishan)?

I strongly believe that it should be Shreyas Iyer for now as he is the incumbent and has hardly put a foot in the wrong direction. Yes, the likes of Kishan and SKY have broken the door down to make their way into the team but why change something that ain’t broken? 

Srijan: Positives for England  

Well, there are quite a few positives for England to take away in conclusion of their two month long tour to India even when the scoreline of the series tells us otherwise.

The first and the foremost important takeaway for England out of this series has to be the exposure the touring team gained out of touring India especially since the two out of three major ICC events in the next 4 year cycle is going to take place in India and to play on surfaces such as these would have been a huge learning experience. Yes, most of England’s players play the IPL but at the end of the day an international game is different and it comes with its own set of pressures so that is one of them.

The next one is the way Ben Stokes took up the role at No. 3 in the absence of Root. Watching Stokes play the way he did was quite a revelation to be honest. The world knows Stokes as a natural matchwinner who could turn a game on it course but to come in at 3 and watch him bat like that was simply sensational 

The way Sam Curran batted: This was again a huge positive for England. I am quite convinced that Sam Curran has got the game to bat higher up the order. Looking forward to seeing more of him in the future. He was the player who was the difference between the two sides the last time India toured England and with time, Sam Curran’s career is only going with one way up from here

Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy continue to be impressive for England at the top of the order: Jason Roy and Bairstow continued to show us why they are rated as one of the most destructive pairs in ODI cricket. They laid the platform for England to capitalise on in two ODIs and unfortunately England weren’t able to capitalise on the starts provided by the both of them and lost their way in the chase on both sides

Neha: Positives for India 

Bhuvneshwar back, Shardul continues to attack: After an injury hiatus kept him out of action for a year, Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to India’s limited-overs setup last month. Having gained confidence during the five Twenty20 Internationals that preceded the ODIs, the pace bowler was back to his miserly best. His economy rate of 4.65 in 29 overs was the best of the series on the flat tracks laid out at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Add his six wickets to the mix, and Bhuvneshwar seems likely to regain his place in the squad even when Jasprit Bumrah returns to the fold.

On the other hand, Shardul Thakur seems to have all but cemented his place in the side as a third pacer and a useful No. 8 batsman. His economy rate is high, but he compensates with his wicket-taking abilities, as seen in the third ODI, where he was brought into the attack in the 14th over and cleaned up England’s middle order in no time.

Pant and Hardik’s Jodi: Thanks to a middle-order that has been far from reliable over the last five years, India’s top three have been forced to adopt a conventional approach to building an innings and unleashing themselves only towards the end. But with K. L. Rahul regaining his mojo and the fearsome duo of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya back to their best, India seems set to follow in England’s footsteps in adopting a crash-bang-wallop approach right through the innings. Both Pant and Hardik displayed, especially in the third ODI on Sunday, a methodical madness – one manufacturing strokes, the other using raw power to clear the field – that not only wears the opposition down but also frees up Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the top

India score 300-plus despite losing Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul cheaply: While Kohli isn’t anywhere near the best form of his career, he’s been in decent nick. He claimed the Man of the Series award on the T20I leg of the tour and scored the fifties in each of the first two ODIs. But in the 3rd and final ODI, Kohli was castled for just 7 by Moeen Ali. His wicket came shortly after that of vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who also saw his timber disturbed by an England spinner. And to further worsen matters, KL Rahul spooned a full-toss straight to short fine-leg.

Kohli, Rohit and Rahul have been India’s best white-ball players over the last year or two. A significant portion of the team’s runs have come from their blades, and India has sometimes been over-reliant on them to come up with the goods. However, the 3rd ODI was a promising indication of the sheer wealth of resources at India’s disposal. Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan scored the fifties to take the hosts to an above-par total, indicating that the top 6 is as solid as any. India will only become stronger when Ravindra Jadeja returns, and if they fix their spin woes, we could see them win a plethora of trophies.

Srijan: India’s comprehensive win across all formats and takeaways taking everything into consideration 

India with comprehensive victories across all formats this season have shown us they are rated as the best side the world. These victories are despite the fact that we didn’t have our best players available to us at all times. Jadeja, Shami, Bumrah were all not available for the Limited overs formats with Jadeja and Bhuvaneshwar missing the Tests too, India had to make do with cricketers who were on the bench and this series served as a good reminder on how good India’s bench strength is. To think of players such as Washington and Natarajan coming in and performing so well despite being at nascent stages of their careers at least in the longest format of the game showed us how well India’s domestic system is. The India-A tours have certainly helped.

Shubhman Gill and Siraj are bright stars who are going to be invaluable servants of Indian cricket for a long time. Ashwin once again proved that he is here to stay and is still invaluable with the ball. One big positive for him though had to be the way his batting is come through. 

As far as the ODIs go, Shikhar Dhawan’s return to form is a huge plus. Shardul has also been brilliant with both bat and ball. In the T20Is, the way SKY and Kishan batted was absolutely brilliant. It didn’t appear that both of them were on their maiden tour with the side. Thanks to the IPL, these guys get face to face with the top-tier cricketers in the world and that helps them in building a fearless brand of cricket. 

All in all this has been an absolutely wonderful last two months.

Neha: Bio bubbles and players mental health. Is everything being taken into account by the board? Should boards relook into the schedules and consider having a rotation policy like England’s? 

Let’s focus on India’s continued stay in bio bubbles and its impact on the players mental health. “Scheduling is something that needs to be looked at in the future”; India captain Virat Kohli believes that biosecure bubbles are not sustainable long term and changes to the cricket schedule need to be considered to help players’ mental health. Kohli’s comments come as cricketers prepare to head into another restricted environment for two months for the Indian Premier League (IPL). India’s players have hopped from one bubble to the next since September for the 2020 IPL in the United Arab Emirates. That was followed by their three-month tour of Australia and then a home series against England that lasted two months.

They will next join up with their respective franchises for the IPL bubble, with the eight-team T20 tournament to be played from April 9-May 30. India will then travel to England for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand from June 18-22 in Southampton before their five-Test series against England starts from August 4. This is very stressful and there has to be some planning that has to go with the scheduling. “Sometimes you do get cooked, and you do feel like a bit of change. I’m sure that things will be discussed and things will change in the future as well,” said Kohli and hopefully we will have boards looking into that.

To focus on the rotation policy and its context in the Indian scenario:

For

• Rotation policy allows the team management to decide the best combination of the team which would fare well in some prestigious tournaments.
• It also gives chances to emerging youngsters to showcase their talent on the big stage.
• It gives the older and more experienced players their duly deserved rest.
• It is very important to give exposure to certain talented players and that is what rotation policy makes possible.
• It helps BCCI to map out the future of Indian cricket, and rotating players in different matches and tournaments giving them the perfect platform to do so.
• It tests the bench strength which should be ready under any circumstances.’It would also ensure the stars or the more experienced lot to stay fit for major tournaments like the world cup, by preventing them from exposing themselves to on-field injuries.

Against

• It breaks the momentum of the team. For Example, if the team is performing well and is consistent then it doesn’t make sense to break that stability by rotating players.
• Rotation is a good thing but it should not happen at the cost of the team’s interest.
• The team should not be altered during its winning ways i.e. if a certain individual is at top of his game then he shouldn’t be dropped rather should be given a longer run.
• It is a very big risk to “rest” players for certain matches and then bring them back cold for some other matches.

DK also said “In India, rotation is a double-edged sword unless you are of the quality of Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli. Sometimes players have been rotated and they have ended up losing their place. Not everyone would be convinced about getting rotated. The competition for places in India makes rotation a double-edged sword.” I agree with this. 

Srijan: Well, Neha you have very well pointed out the pros and the cons of the rotation policy that teams might look to employ in the coming future thanks to these extended tours in one of the toughest times for us humankind. Well the reason I argue for India to have a rotation policy such as England’s is to keep the players fresh mentally and physically. Let me take us back to the IPL in September and October of last year. Rishabh Pant as we all know is a runaway match winner. Unfortunately he wasn’t at his fittest and had already lost his spot in the limited overs formats. Just imagine the kind of pressure he would have been under. His IPL was also sort of average and people were starting to question his place in the Delhi Capitals side as well. Quarantines and other things that come with this bubble are tough anyway. From there on, to rediscover his touch and his place and to prove his caliber was great. 

Fortunately whoever has come into this side due to the various injuries throughout this season has come in and performed well. The team overall has performed well in these circumstances but to think of a player who is under pressure with nowhere to go to in these bubbles is tough and that’s why I feel we need to have a rotation policy. We have such a strong bench anyway that we don’t feel the absence of the other player. This is also why I feel having a mental conditioning coach and a sports psychologist travel with teams is of paramount importance.

With this, we draw the curtain on Part 2 of this series. Thank you so much, Srijan for taking the time out of your busy schedule and sharing your thoughts. You’ve been so cooperative and it was an absolute pleasure working with you. Your work ethic is unparalleled and simply wow, amazed at how fast we worked on the episode and hopefully our listeners can also resonate. This was a great collaboration and would love to have you again on the Podcast sometime in the future.

This blog is a review and analysis of the Indian women’s team vs the South African Women’s Team T20 series. We got to see two quality sides in some high octane matches that went to the wire and although South Africa salvaged the series 2-1 and certainly made for a very interesting series. 

Summary of the matches:

The 1st T20I: After being outplayed in the ODI series 4-1, the host was outplayed in the first T20I, going down by eight wickets. Sune Luus’ team went past India’s modest score of 130 for six with ease. The chase was led by opener Anneke Bosch with a fine 66 not out (48b, 9×4, 1×6). Her second-wicket partnership of 90 with Luus dashed the hopes of Smriti Mandhana’s side. 

Earlier, Bosch had had a good time in the field too, as she took a fine catch and picked up two important wickets — Harleen Deol (52) and Jemimah Rodrigues (30), the top two scorers in the Indian innings. The early loss of Smriti, who looked in good touch as she hit two successive fours in the opening over, meant that the host began on the wrong foot. The left-hander’s uppish shot over mid-off, off seamer Shabnim Ismail, was well taken by Bosch. Harleen, promoted up the order, joined Shafali Verma (23, 22b) and added 45 for the second wicket. Though Harleen went on to score her maiden international fifty, her effort was overshadowed by South Africa’s all-round show. 

The 2nd T20I: India lost the toss and were put to bat by the hosts. Putting up a decent 159 on the board driven by some classy knocks of Shefali Varma and Richa Ghosh who scored 47 and a quickfire 44 off 26 respectively ensured we had a decent total on the board. It was not just a challenging target set by India that the South African women were chasing on Sunday night. They were chasing history too and they did it in style off the last ball. They won the second T20I by six wickets to claim their first-ever series against India in the format. While poor fielding and catching made things easier for them, chasing 159 was indeed a creditable effort. Opener Lizelle Lee(70)  and Laura Wolvaardt (53) were the architects of the chase. When the hard-hitting Lee, who was dropped twice, was dismissed by left-arm spinner Radha Yadav in the 16th over, India was back in it. But, Wolvaardt showed nerves of steel to take her side home. Nine was needed off the 20th over, and one off the final delivery. The 21-year-old scampered home for a single to trigger celebrations in the South Africa dugout.

The 3rd T20I: Career-best bowling figures from Rajeshwari Gayakwad and a hurricane 30-ball 60 from Shafali Verma and her 96-run partnership with Smriti Mandhana headlined India’s comprehensive nine-wicket win against South Africa in the third T20I. Opting to field after their second toss win of the series in eight matches, India opening bowlers Arundhati Reddy and Gayakwad managed to keep South Africa quiet in the power play giving away only 15 runs from the first six overs. But the constant fall of wickets meant that after skipper Luus was dismissed for 28 off 25, it looked like South Africa would struggle to go past the 100-run mark, but an enterprising partnership between Sinalo Jafta and Lara Goodall took South Africa over the three-figure mark. Scoring a paltry 112/7 in 20 overs, India wrapped up the chase in style with Shefali Varma hammering experienced Shabnim Ismail for 18 runs in the first over as India raced to 64 at the end of five overs. The-17-year old finally was dismissed for 60 off 30 but the damage was already long done with the opening pair putting on 96 runs from 51 balls. Harleen Deol scored a boundary in her first ball before Mandhana finished the match with three consecutive boundaries in the 11th over to finish the match in style with plenty of overs to spare.

To focus on other major pointers from the series

Shafali Varma’s form

She was in brilliant knick throughout the series. Her confident strokeplay, attacking approach and smart batting was rewarded as she was the highest run-getter for India and broke many records on the way too. She effortlessly hit the SA bowlers all around the park and looked very dominant in her style of batting. She scored her third T20I fifty from 26 balls and it was her joint-fastest fifty and India’s third joint-fastest fifty in the format and she reclaimed her numero uno spot in the rankings quite deservingly. She definitely makes the cut to be considered for ODIs.Her 60 runs knock in the final T20 literally had just 2 runs coming of singles so we can see what a destructive batter she is. 

She smashed 124 off 78 balls in a 50-over match against the likes of some very quality Aussie pacers during India’s A tour of Australia in December 2019 before taking the T20 World Cup by storm with her style of batting. Ever since her debut against South Africa at home in 2019, she has been slotted as a T20 bruiser and is yet to make her ODI debut. The powerful right-hander strikes at 143.79 in her List A career so far and has no peers in domestic cricket. During the 2018-2019 Under-23 One Day League, Shafali scored 543 runs from eight matches at an average of 67.88 and a strike rate of 198.17- including three hundreds and two fifties before she catapulted herself to fame during the Women’s T20 Challenge 2019 and subsequent T20I outings.

Harleen Deol is a formidable 3 for India in T20s

In the 1st T20, she scored a crucial 52 and stitched a good partnership with the batters coming on and in the 2nd T20I too she looked good. With her batting well at 3, it augurs well for the team as it gives solidity, she can anchor well and in case we lose our openers early on, she can partner Jemimah well and get India across. 

Jemimah Rodrigues middling it well

Another positive has to be Jemimah getting that well made 30 where she played the role of the anchor scoring that crucial 30 off 27 and in the 2nd T20 was there for some time and looked good but an ambitious shot ensured she did not last the test of time. But her coming back to form has been so important. 

Richa Ghosh

Richa Gosh showed the world how destructive she can be lower down the order in the 2nd match of the SA Series when she got to that 44 off 26 and has looked very good attacking in the lower middle order. 

An ideal playing 11

Shefali Varma and Smriti Mandhana to open

Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (when she returns from injury), Richa Ghosh for the solid middle order

Nuzhat Parween as the wicketkeeper

Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey (when she is selected for the next series), Arundathi Reddy/Mansi Joshi/Simran Bahadur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad/Poonam Yadav to form the bowling core 

Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav

Gayakwad had an impressive spell dismissing both the openers in the final T20I and looked good in the ODI series and the 1st 2 T20s too. Anneke Bosch tried to play across the wicket and was bowled with the bowling pitching around middle and leg and turning away. Then she castled Lizelle Lee with a quicker one that went straight to send the in-form batter back to the pavilion for 12. She finished the power play with 3-1-2-2.  Radha Yadav has been impressive and she too for her tremendous performance holds the record for “most consecutive innings with one or more wickets” with 26 consecutive innings. 

Smrithi Mandhana captaincy and her breezy form:

Smriti Mandhana has blown hot and cold looking good and at the same time listless edging wide deliveries. Mandhana got her rhythm back and played her natural attacking game in the final T20I and hopefully, we get to see more of that. 

SA and their dominance:

In the absence of some of their most prominent mainstays, they wrapped up their tour of India with a 4-1 win in the ODI series and a 2-1 victory in the T20I leg. The women’s team has benefitted from consistency, in coaching, playing personnel and funding, which has allowed them to flourish while other parts of the game in the country flounder. To quickly focus on what worked really well for them: 

1. Mental Strength: South African teams are not known for their ability to deal with pressure, but this team has shown that they can hold their nerve in crunch situations. They kept up with the DLS required run rate in the third ODI in India to claim victory, won both the fourth and fifth with less than two overs remaining, and took the second T20I on the final ball.

2. Lee’s dominance and du Preez’s return to form: South Africa’s senior players embodied that bold attitude to set the tone for the India series. Lizelle Lee was the top-scorer in the ODIs with 288 runs including one hundred (a career-best 132*) and two fifties at an average of 144, and the third-highest run-scorer in the T20Is, where she scored one fifty. She rose to the top of the ODI rankings before being overtaken by Tammy Beaumont and her opening partnership with Laura Wolvaardt is among the most formidable in world cricket, so much so that South Africa were thought to be over-reliant on the pair.

3. Approach against spin: After being bamboozled by the turning ball on their last tour to India, in 2019, South Africa embarked on an intense programme to get better at it. And it has worked. They subjected India’s spinners to their worst home ODI series where they have bowled at least 100 overs, and used the sweep and reverse sweep to good, and occasionally daring, effect.

4. Leaders- Emerging and Established: South Africa have played this year without their regular captain Dané van Niekerk and senior allrounder Chloe Tryon, who are both recovering from lower-back injuries. That gave Luus the opportunity to step in as a leader, though she also missed some matches because of illness, which allowed Wolvaardt to step in. And, just like that, South Africa may have created a succession plan.

5. The unbelievable Ismail and her unparalleled consistency: With the batting in the spotlight, South Africa’s attack has flown under the radar but can’t go without mention. Shabnim Ismail was their leading wicket-taker in both formats on the India tour and once again impressed with her aggression and accuracy, and also in the mentoring role, she appeared to play on-field, especially in the absence of Marizanne Kapp in the T20Is.

6. Good, economical bowling: South Africa will also be pleased with the efforts of quick bowler Ayabonga Khaka, who was their most economical bowler on the tour and helped keep a star-studded Indian line-up in control. Khaka conceded 3.44 runs an over in the ODIs, the lowest in the series, and 5.62 in the T20Is, where only Rajeshwari Gayakwad, the India left-arm spinner, was more miserly than her. Tumi Sekhukhune provided good support in the ODIs with five wickets at 28.40 and an economy rate of 5.35.

Need for Women’s IPL and the Twitter storm, Boria controversy

IPL is considered as a product that gives billions of revenue, BCCI is so afraid that if Women’s IPL didn’t live up to expectations, may not generate revenue and may even diminish the value of the product IPL. There lies the biggest problem. Comparing the unborn WIPL to well-established IPL. That’s why there is so much talk about quality, performance, depth in talents, etc. 

Boria Majumdar in an angry rant about how the women’s side lacks the depth to have a full-fledged IPL, lack of talent and that the series loss to SA can be attributed to the fact that we might not see a new team getting added to the WT20 Challenge. He received a lot of flak for the same with many calling him out for his ‘insensible’ remarks and how the WIPL is actually the need of the hour besides the game time and matches that our team deserves. India is the 3rd ranked T20 side just below Australia and England. Cricket Australia & ECB investing in their women’s cricket that’s why they dominate world cricket. Australia has WBBL and England starting The Hundred — previously they had Kia Super League. They invested in their players and they dominate world cricket now. Food for thought just imagine what WIPL would do for Indian Cricket.

To start a tournament like WIPL you don’t need to have 10–20 domestic talent for each team. All you need is 4 overseas players, 4 good Indian players, and 2–3 uncapped Indian players or relatively new Indian players who can be part of the playing XI. There are at least 50+ talented domestic players from India who can make the cut. For starters, BCCI can at least form 5 team WIPL with 8 International + 12 Indian players per side. With a total pool of 50+ International players and 60 Indian players available. even 6 team tournament is possible but at the moment they can start small with 5 team tournaments. They can even increase the overseas player’s quota from 4 to 5 to accommodate more overseas players.

With 5 team tournaments, BCCI can increase the tournament length to 23 matches — 20 league matches + 2 semis + finals. This will allow each team minimum of 10 matches to test their bench strength. The more they play, they will get used to executing their skills under pressure. Because it’s 5 team tournament and only 1 team will not feature in the semis, there won’t be any shortage of action. BCCI can start the tournament just after the Men’s IPL finals. So that they can extend the IPL celebration for 2 to 3 weeks.

Shafali Verma is the world no.1 Batter but she is still 17. Imagine What 3 weeks of playing alongside someone like Alyssa Healy will do to her confidence. How much a young domestic player can learn in those 3 weeks by just observing Shafali Verma and Alyssa Healy in nets. Women’s Cricket in India needs WIPL desperately. World Cricket needs WIPL to take Women’s game to next level. If BCCI starts investing more in Women’s cricket by properly scheduling matches without clashing with men’s matches and improve the quality of the broadcast coverage, more people around the world will start to follow women’s cricket. Women’s cricket is not deprived of talents. The core issue lies in the fact that it is just not marketed properly. It’s high time for BCCI to take the Women’s game to next level with enough marketing.

Reactions after the loss

The last time India lost a five-match ODI series, by a margin of 1-4 or more, was in 2008 against Australia. Since then, they have played five bilateral series with as many matches in each and have won three of those. This is why, when India lost the ODI series 1-4 and the T20I series 1-2, they had to face some strong criticism. Again, reiterating how important game time is the senior players should’ve had played at least 20 matches cumulatively, including domestic and international fixtures before the South Africa tour but playing some club cricket and other inconsequential series will not help. We have often heard cricketers, both men and women, talk about the difference between match-practice and training in the nets. It has been reiterated by many players that the former is far more difficult and different from the latter, and logically so.

These small things – the training camps, having some game-time – do make a difference in any sport, especially cricket. Coming back from long breaks and injuries are hard. Any player would need some game-time before getting into the groove. Its unfair to criticise them and just give them more games, opportunities and WIPL, everything will fall in place and glory days await us and probably even silverware.

Area to work on: With the top two sides – Australia and England – constructing sides that are suitable for the rapidly evolving modern game in limited over formats, having an array of pace bowling options to call upon, spinners who can bowl at any stages of the game, and fielding an attacking batting line-up, India need to embrace the modern game or else it won’t be long before their strategy of building a side with safe batters and a spin dominant bowling line-up becomes obsolete.

This blog is yet again a review and analysis episode of the India vs England T20 series. From 1-2 down, Virat Kohli’s men completed a remarkable series victory against the top-ranked T20I side in the world. We got to see two quality sides in some high octane matches that went to the wire and certainly made for a very interesting series. Considering the T20 World Cup looming a little later this year, Morgan asserted that this series will give England good game time for preparation. Although the scoreline reads 3-2 in India’s favour, England fought tooth and nail and gave nothing away in all these crucial matches. The template for the Indian men’s cricket team in 2021 seems to be set: lose the first match of the series, come from behind to clinch the trophy. 

Summary of the matches

In the 1st T20I, India on losing the toss was put to bat first and scored an underwhelming 124/7 in their 20 overs quota. Shreyas Iyer was probably the only positive scoring 67 off 48 while none of the other batsmen contributed. England wrapped the match easily with Jason Roy scoring a stellar 49 with the Indian bowling rendered ineffective.

In the 2nd T20I, India showed resolve and put up a very impressive performance. England was put to bat first and made 164/6 with Sundar and Thakur taking 2 wickets. Virat Kohli showed his brilliance with the bat scoring a brilliant 73 off 49 but Ishan Kishan with his debut 50 was a notch above and India won the match comfortably. The series tied at 1-1.

In the 3rd T20I, India batting first after agonizingly losing another toss could muster and put up just 156 on the board. Yet again, a Virat Kohli masterpiece where he scored a 77 off 46 was the talking point as the rest of the batting was simply unimpressive. England chased it down with ease owing to the magnificent 83 off just 52 balls posted by Jos Buttler and a 40 by Bairstow that helped them get a crucial lead of 2-1 in the series. 

In the 4th T20I, India staged another comeback as batting first we made a competitive 185/8 with Suryakumar Yadav scoring a skilful 57. England was chasing well with some handy cameos by Stokes, Jason Roy and Bairstow but it was a nailbiter as England missed on making it 3-1 losing by 8 runs. With the series tied 2-2 all now, the 5th T20I had to be a cracker of a contest and it definitely lived up to that.

In the 5th T20I, India scored a very competitive 224 batting first riding on a Virat Kohli masterclass and with Rohit Sharma, Pandya also chipping in it was always going to be difficult for England to chase this big total down. But Dawid Malan who had a very quiet series finally silenced his critics as he scored a masterful 68 off 46 keeping England in the reckoning to pull off the win but a brilliant spell by Shardul Thakur and an unbelievable spell by Bhuvi ensured we edged England 3-2 and won the series in style.

There were a number of positives and also a few concerns for India in the series. Kohli had said at the start that they would play a new brand of cricket in the shortest format ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year. Whether or not they did that against England is still up for debate, but despite chopping and changing their lineup consistently, India got the desired result.

Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan: The biggest positive for India in the batting department was the arrival of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. The duo excelled for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020 and have added immense firepower to India’s lineup with their impressive international debuts. Both batsmen got half-centuries in their first innings and made key contributions in the three Indian victories. While Suryakumar seems set to be given a long rope after playing and doing well in consecutive matches against England, Kishan’s presence in the XI remains a doubt as he missed out due to an injury and did not return to the XI*. And with Kohli deciding to open, Kishan’s place still has to be figured out.

Virat Kohli’s imperious form: Then there was the form of captain Kohli. He was under pressure having registered two ducks in the preceding Test series and another in the first T20I, but the senior pro turned things around impressively by scoring a total of 231 runs in the next four games and picking up the player of the series award. However, his position in the batting order remains a talking point. Kohli promoted himself to the top of the order in the fifth T20I and remained unbeaten to anchor the Indian innings with a 52-ball 80. After the match, he even said that the middle order looks strong to him and he would like to continue as opener along with Rohit Sharma. If that were to happen going forward, KL Rahul will find it difficult to seal a spot in the side.

KL Rahul’s form and Shikhar Dhawan’s unceremonious axing: After registering scores of 1, 0 and 0 in the first three games, Rahul received strong backing from Kohli and Vikram Rathour, with the batting coach even terming him “the best Indian batsman” in the shortest format. But after a 17-ball 14 in the fourth game, Rahul was dropped for the decider and now Kohli is eyeing a permanent spot at the top of the order. Shikhar Dhawan, another opener, was unceremoniously dropped after failing in the first T20I which was very unfortunate but paved the way for newbies to come through. By benching Dhawan for the four out of five T20Is, Team India has probably sealed Dhawan’s fate and delivered the message that he isn’t in the scheme of things going ahead. Though a dream run in IPL will put Dhawan back in the scheme of things, he hasn’t performed that well in the shortest format. Dhawan has 1673 runs in 65 T20Is at 27.88 and has been dropped twice from the playing XI in World Cups.

Positives in the batting department: But as things stand, with Kohli firing at the top and Suryakumar, Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya being contenders for the middle order, Rahul has a huge challenge on his hands if he wants to earn his spot back in the side.

Bhuvi’s return: In the bowling department, the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar was without a doubt the biggest plus for India. The experienced pacer, who spent a considerable amount of time on the sidelines due to injuries, had an economy-rate of just 6.38 across the five matches, which was the best for any bowler among both teams, and bagged the player of the match in the decider for delivering a sensational spell. It can’t be denied that India’s bowling attack looks so much more potent with a fit and in-form Bhuvneshwar. The 31-year-old was mighty effective against England with the new ball as well as at the death. He got swing both ways and was accurate with his variations to become the go-to bowler for Kohli throughout. With him and Jasprit Bumrah, India could have a devastating pace-bowling duo at the World Cup.

Hardik Pandya’s return as a full-time bowler: This is also a massive advantage for India. The all-rounder delivered 17 overs in the series and was the second-most economical bowler (6.94) among both teams. His spell of 2/16 in the fourth game was exceptional and even in the decider, he showed grit to concede just 16 runs in his last three overs after being taken for 18 in his first. The right-arm medium-pacer used his cutters to great effect and if he continues to remain fit, the balance in the Indian team will be a lot better.

Shardul Thakur’s key spells: This was another key contributor for India. His eight wickets in the series were by far the most among India’s bowlers and the right-arm pacer did well to provide breakthroughs operating in crunch situations. However, he too could find it tough to earn a spot once the likes of Bumrah and Mohammed Shami return. The team management, though, will be pleased with Thakur’s performance for now and the 29-year-old would want to strengthen his case with a strong IPL season.

The spinners and their ineffectivity: In terms of spinners, India didn’t have a lot to write home about in the T20I series against England. The pitches may have been more conducive for fast bowling but the hosts would’ve expected Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar to have bigger impact. The duo proved to be expensive, with Chahal getting replaced by Rahul Chahar after the first three games. But having said that, India wouldn’t be worried at the moment. Their spinners can gain confidence in the IPL and the pitches in the World Cup post that will most-likely be less pace-friendly.

Is Virat-Rohit opening partnership a possibility in the future?

Virat Kohli opening the innings with Rohit Sharma in T20Is! Yes, this can be a possibility going ahead as the Indian skipper hinted at the same during the presentation ceremony. The out of the box thinking saw Kohli opening with his deputy in the final T20I. It’s not that he hasn’t opened in past, Kohli has resisted the move to strengthen the middle-order. He is confirmed to open the innings in IPL 2021 and performances in the IPL will have a big say in deciding whether Kohli will give himself a batting promotion or not.

India ready to give new faces a chance in T20Is: The five-match T20I series also displayed that Team India is ready to give chances to new faces even in a World Cup year and that the race to a few vacant spots is still open. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav made their debuts in the series. And for now, it looks like Suryakumar has done enough to keep his spot for the next series as well. Rahul Tewatia and Varun Chakravarthy could have also made their debuts had they cleared their fitness tests.

Controversial catch and Soft call: Major talking point also has to be the controversial dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav and the catch by Malan. England fielders celebrated and Malan claimed the catch, but replays showed that he might have grassed it. However, the third umpire found no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s ‘soft signal’ which was out. Addressing a press conference ahead of India’s ODI series against England, Virat Kohli called the soft signal a ‘grey area’ that needs to be addressed. According to the game’s rules, the on-field umpires provide a soft signal in a way to express their views on a potential dismissal. TV umpires can’t overturn the same unless they are certain that the call is wrong. The issue became contentious as many experts and players questioned how an umpire’s decision, taken yards away from the action, could have any value in impacting the third umpire’s call.

To focus on the positives that England can take from this series has to be Dawid Malan’s performance in the last T20I, Jofra Archer’s bowling, Jos Butler and his ability to partner well and they also managed to produce some of the best powerplay bowling that we have in the last couple of years. Their middle order was not as sharp. Adil Rashid’s bowling has been a huge positive. Morgan also revealed that as of now, no player has been confirmed to be part of the English squad for the upcoming World Cup, not even him. 

It was such a relief when BCCI finally organized a series for our women’s team who hadn’t played competitive cricket since the historic 2020 WT20 finals vs Australia. We did have the 4 exhibition matches of the Women’s T20 Challenge but this series vs South Africa was a much-needed one.

The Indian Women’s Cricket Team is the sixth women’s team among Full Nation Members to take the field during the pandemic era, almost five-and-a-half months after the England Women and West Indies Women played a five-match T20I series in England, the White Ferns have toured Australia and the Pakistan side have played six white-ball games in South Africa. The Zimbabwe Women played an unofficial ODI against Pakistan while the English and the New Zealand teams are currently embroiled in a series. 

The ECB staged the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, while the South African Women took part in their domestic Women’s T20 Super League. The Australian Women’s Big Bash League and the Women’s Super Smash event went on as planned, as did the 50-over domestic games for women in Australia and New Zealand. And the Indian players had literally nothing except a few resorting to play in a local league in Bengaluru to stay match-fit. This is unfortunately the state of women’s cricket in our country and we have miles to go. 

This blog is all about a review of the ODI series featuring the Indian women’s team vs the very dominant South Africa who triumphed us 4-1 in this series. No cricket for a year and four training sessions before a series is in no way ideal preparation. But what stood out was just how much of a difference there was between their level of cricket. 

The scorecards made for grim reading: Apart from one nine-wicket win while chasing, India batted first. They were bowled out for under 200 twice and in the other two games, couldn’t defend totals of 248 and 266. As important it was to have the team back on the field with only one year to go for the World Cup, the series result was a stark reminder of the time they spent away. And, as much as the lack of match practises undercut’s India loss, the lessons from it should be given utmost attention.

Short Summary of the 5 matches: 

In the 1st ODI, SA won the toss and decided to bowl first putting our team to bat first. Scoring an underwhelming 177 batting first, Mithali Raj with her 50 and Kaur with her 40 ensured we were bundled out for lesser. Shabnim Ismail took 3 scalps and was supported well by Kapp and the others in the bowling line up. SA wrapped it up quickly with Lizelle Lee scoring a skilful 83 and Laura Wolvaardt scoring 80 that meant SA went 1-0 up in the series. The win ensured SA’s 7th consecutive win on the dot and they equalled their own longest streak. Laura Wolvaardt became the youngest SA player to get to 2k runs.

2nd ODI saw a much improved India as we won the toss and skittled SA for a mere 157 with Jhulan Goswami taking 4, Gayakwad with 3 and Mansi Joshi replacing the young Monica Patel taking 2 and chasing the paltry total was Mandhana who top-scored with an 80 off 64 and Punam Raut who made a 62 off 89 and the series was levelled 1-1. India also managed to score their best partnership vs SA of 138 and this was India’s biggest victory vs SA in terms of wickets. 

3rd ODI witnessed India batting first making a lukewarm 248 as Punam Raut yet again scored a match-saving 77 off 108 balls (her 15th ODI 50) complemented by Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma who scored likewise 36 but SA bowlers; Ismail, Kapp and Bosch starred with the ball. SA was batting well as they had Lizelle Lee yet again top-scoring with an unbeaten 132* which was her 3rd ODI 100 and her highest score of all time and she now has the highest no. of 100 in SA women cricketers but a bout of the non-seasonal rain ensured via DLS, SA won the match, Wolvaardt won her 1st match as stand-in SA captain and took SA took a competitive 2-1 series lead. Goswami and Gayakwad starred with the ball taking 2 wickets and 1 wicket each with Deepti Sharma being economical, but it wasn’t enough. We also witnessed how Mithali Raj became the first Indian woman and the 2nd in the world to score 10k int’l runs. 

4th ODI was a must-win for Team India and yet again losing the toss ensured we were put to bat. Punam Raut’s hard work, consistency, brilliance and vigil at the crease throughout was finally rewarded with a magnificent 100 and Kaur and Mithali with their handy 54 and 45 ensured India had a competitive albeit defendable 266 on the board. But SA once again looked at ease throughout chasing it down as Lizelle lee’s 69, du Preez’s 61 and Lara Goodall’s 59 sailed them through and the 1 wicket that Kaur, Gayakwad and Joshi got went in vain. SA clinched the series 3-1 and India was literally playing the next match for pride and had to salvage it to make it 3-2 but fate had other plans. 

The 5th and the final ODI saw India put yet another deflated performance as after being put to bat yet again, quick and sporadic loss of wickets ensured we could manage 188 on the board as Raj, the lone warrior scored 79, her 55th ODI 50 in what was a poor batting performance but we also got to see Kaur and Raj cement their 50 runs partnership and seal the record for the most 50+ partnerships batting for India and it stands at 14. We also saw Nadine de Klerk picking 3 wickets with Sekhukhane continuing her good streak of bowling spells. SA was saddled with a few wickets lost early on however, sealed it in style with Bosch (who scored her 1st ODI 50), du Preez (who scored her 16th ODI 50) and Kapp taking them comfortably across the line with a six and thereby SA sealed the series 4-1. Gayakwad’s 3 wickets in her 10 over spell giving away just 13 runs was the standout performer. 

The selection of the squad:

The squad announcement ahead of the Indian women’s limited-overs series against South Africa saw some very surprising exclusions in the form of veteran Shikha Pandey and skilled wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia and even Ekta Bisht, proven matchwinners and performers not finding a place in the squad and made way for some fresh faces in the form of Monica Patel, C Prathyusha and Dayalan Hemalatha, Swetha Verma another wicket-keeper and Radha Yadav finding spots in the ODI set up and please note that the T20 side selected will be discussed later on. 

The omission of Shefali Varma 

This is another mystery non-selection from the ODI set up as she will provide the necessary starts that India needs and it just makes no sense to omit her. She definitely brings in the benefit of having a big-hitting batter right at the top of the order  This is where India sorely miss the vital presence of a big-hitter. The absence of someone like pace-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar, who is known for her lower-order cameos, is worrying. Many felt she would have added the necessary assistance and balance to the team. 

Positions and partnerships:

Mithali Raj pointed out bowling and fielding as areas of improvement after the match, but that assessment is not entirely accurate. One of the biggest differences between India and South Africa were batting partnerships. While the Proteas built a stand for virtually every wicket, batting collapses came back to haunt India. South Africa registered their highest ever ODI chase on the back of each of their top four getting a half-century. 

That is a very rare occurrence for India, even when fully prepared. It was pointed out throughout the series by players as a decisive factor and it is something that the batting collective has to work on strongly. One of the more jarring stats was that 26/1 is the highest opening partnership for India in the series. Starting troubles and the long layoff are understandable, but to not have a single good powerplay for both openers is pressure on the team right at the start.

Inconsistency of Smriti Mandhana and the disappointing form of Jemimah Rodrigues:

The failure to back Smriti Mandhana from the other end puts the prolific opener under undue pressure leading her to not be able to play her original brand of cricket. Jemimah Rodrigues’s poor patch continued with single-digit scores in the first three games and she was dropped thereafter which was unfortunate and hopefully she can be drafted in the struggling middle order so we do not miss out on the talent she is. 

The case for Priya Punia & Punam Raut:

Priya Punia looked more positive and settled in the role, despite two brief outings and it would be interesting to see if the team management decides to keep her for the series coming ahead and maybe get back Jemimah to play lower down the order while No 3. Punam Raut on the other hand has practically faced the new ball in every game and looked good. Top scoring in the series, she looks like a formidable and very crucial player at 3 for us. 

The poor run rate in the middle overs:

Losing early wickets has been a problem. This raises questions over batting positions, which are further complicated with Mithali coming in at No 4. The early wickets meant Raut and Mithali’s scoring-rates were pegged back even further, and their acceleration in ODIs is anyway not the best. Should then Rodrigues be used lower down so there is a balance between the hitters and the anchors? Should Raut’s steadiness be allowed to complement Mandhana at the top? In the final match, India experimented by sending Harmanpreet Kaur at No 4 to allow her the time to settle in. But the fall of quick wickets meant Mithali was in a ball later and the swap meant little. However, it was a good call given India’s batting tends to lose teeth after her and the batting powerplays are barely optimised. 

Uninspiring batting:

The Indian ODI batting lineup doesn’t really have many consistent big hitters, bar Harmanpreet. Veda Krishnamurthy is erratic at best and was therefore dropped, and no one else was pencilled in for the role.

The glaring imbalance was evident from an underrated record in the third ODI when India’s No 3 to 6 batters all scored 30+ runs in the same ODI innings for the first time. This then puts the batting styles of Mithali Raj and Punam Raut under the scanner. The two were India’s standout batters this series and the debate here is whether they should be criticised for strike-rate when they played anchor innings or should the lack of impetus while batting around them be questioned.

Worrisome bowling:

India’s bowling this series was inconsistent and lacked structure as the two successful chases of over 240 highlight. The bowling calls seemed inexplicable, right from the squad selection to the playing XI. Much has been said about the absence of veteran Shikha Pandey, who was dropped to give other pacers a chance (still doesn’t explain Vastrakar’s exclusion). 

Mansi Joshi and Monica Patel did not play a game together, with many experts feeling they aren’t ready for international cricket which is true as they still need to go through the domestic grind and hone their skills for India A before warranting a place in the team as yet and even when Jhulan Goswami was injured with India choosing to debut spinner Radha Yadav instead. Apart from Goswami in the sole win, not one senior bowler stood out with consistent strikes. When India was defending 268 and South Africa need 53 runs in 48 balls, Mithali had virtually no mainliner to turn to after almost bowling out Goswami and Gayakwad. Here’s the kicker: India’s first-choice could take more than five wickets only once in five matches. And this was a debilitated South Africa team that missed some of the key players. 

The Spinners Conundrum:

A large part of this bowling performance was down to the spinners’ failure. When the hosts’ biggest strength proved to be their biggest letdown, there was no alternative or way out. 

Poonam Yadav went wicketless in four games for the first time, Deepti Sharma got just one, Radha Yadav had a forgettable debut and Harmanpreet had to fill in regularly. Only Gayakwad had some impact and was the only one retained in the final match and starred picking up 3 wickets giving away just 13 runs in 10 overs. South Africa were especially clever while dealing with India’s spinners, staying deep in their crease and using their back foot. But the inability to build on the scoreboard pressure with basic, tight lines in the slog overs will be a blow to the team’s psyche.

The concerning bench strength of India: Jhulan Goswami went on to finish her quota of 10 overs with an impressive economy rate of 3.70 in the fifth and final one-dayer against South Africa on Wednesday. She did the job even though her left hand was heavily strapped and she was in pain after a freak injury following a difficult catch at mid-off. This wasn’t the first time the 38-year-old from Bengal had put the team interest ahead of her. She has been India’s frontline bowler for nearly two decades and it’s unlikely anyone in the current lot will be able to step into her shoes.

In the batting department, skipper Mithali Raj, 38, and her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur, 32 have been shouldering the responsibility for more than a decade and a half, playing big innings and fashioning India’s famous victories. When we see a road ahead, minus these crucial players, who will step up and take responsibility? 

Mandhana’s inconsistencies, Rodrigues’ inability to translate the domestic performances in the international arena, lack of good quality pacers and wicketkeeper who can score barring an all-rounder who can contribute both ways has to be addressed and is the need of the hour. All these glaring questions are not helping India’s cause. But as raj and Goswami, the household names in women’s cricket enter the twilight of their careers, the question being asked is, what next for Indian women’s cricket, especially after the hosts lost to South Africa 1-4 in the five-match ODI series. WV Raman and Mithali Raj have to be given more freedom with selection and the buck should stop with them and the selectors have to be more aware and smart. A roadmap for the coming series and the World Cup has to be laid out with a lot more focus given the domestic cricket and frequency of matches as the primary focus. 

Some of the reasons for us faltering repeatedly are glaringly obvious for instance the lack of game time due to COVID-19 restrictions and the resulting “rustiness”, while some of the less obvious reasons are inadequate planning, fewer opportunities to play competitive cricket and mindless and illogical selection case in point dropping key players not helping India in any way.

Positives for SA from the series:

Lizelle Lee’s dominance with the bat has been unparalleled for starters, coupled with the good batting from Laura Woolvaardt, good partnerships, the brilliance of Marizanne Kapp and her economical spells with the occasional batting cameos, the pacers Sekhukhane, Ismail to name a few, the captaincy throughout the series and the smart decisions, limiting and making it difficult for the Indian batters to score, the way the batters played spin are all points to ponder over. Additionally, the way the Protea women believed, backed and trusted their players to do the job in spite of some bad days, not dropping them at the drop of a hat was something we need to learn from them. 

Questions have been raised on the selection, the selectors themselves and how this is not the right way ahead considering we have a World Cup coming up in 2022 in NZ and our team is in tatters with a lot of deficiencies to be ironed out. 

Up next is the T20I series which will be crucial for India to gain some perspective after the debacle in the longer format. India were runners-up at the last T20 World Cup, just like in ODIs, and will look to channel some of that spirit as they look to get back to the winning ways.

This is the script I used to analyse Test 4 between India and England on my Podcast, Never on the Backfoot that encapsulates all the major talking points. After England won the toss and elected to bat first, the visitors were expected to make a good start and capitalise as much as they could and make it difficult for India to qualify ahead considering they were already out of the reckoning for the World Test Championship. 

Agonizingly for England throughout and the reason for the downfall for the greater part of the tour, Axar Patel got the openers out early before Mohammed Siraj took the crucial wickets of Root and Bairstow and putting India in a very commanding position yet again as England was tottering at 78/4 just after the Lunch break.

Ben Stokes scored a decent half-century, a knock of 55 that helped England at a time when Ashwin and Axar were surprisingly finding it difficult to get into their usual groove. Washington Sundar got the much-needed breakthrough when he got Ben Stokes out to end a partnership that was flowering and could be potentially dangerous for India. Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence looked good on the crease but Ashwin & Axar brought back their magical spells to wrap the England inning up at 205 post-tea on Day 1.

India lost Shubman Gill early on to James Anderson but Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma showed the required resilience to take India safely to 24/1 at the end of Day 1 as they looked all set to take a significant lead on Day 2 of the test match considering we had some exceptional batting talent to follow Pujara and Rohit. 

India resumed day 2 on 24 for 1 and added 270 runs throughout the day’s play. However, we did not have the desired start as England picked up three wickets in the first session. While Rohit Sharma was setting into his innings, England picked up Virat Kohli (0), Cheteshwar Pujara (17) and Ajinkya Rahane (27) in the first session as India headed to lunch at 80/4. Rahane was Anderson’s 900th international wicket as the English legend joined an elite list of bowlers with 900 international scalps. 

Resuming post-lunch, Rohit Sharma was joined by Rishabh Pant at the wicket. The duo added 41 runs together before Hitman was undone by a classy inswinging delivery from England all-rounder Ben Stokes. Having top-scored with the bat in the England first innings, Stokes picked the two big wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Indian innings. Ravichandran Ashwin then joined Pant at the wicket and added 25 before he was dismissed by Jack Leach who got him caught to Ollie Pope. 

Both Rohit and Ashwin fell in the second session with Pant going well. He was then joined by Washington Sundar as India went to tea on 153/6 in 62.0 overs. In the final session, Rishabh Pant brought up a well-made fifty and with Sundar first forged a fifty-run stand in 100 balls. While the partnership was growing, the English bowlers were starting to get frustrated under the sun at the Motera. 

After the 80th over, England skipper Joe Root took the new ball and brought back James Anderson into the attack in search of some reverse swing. Opposite to what he thought, Pant took him on and played two of the most extravagant shots in the same over. He first stepped out and hit him over mid-off for a boundary. In the very next ball, Pant reverse-swept the legendary pacer to the latter’s disbelief. The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman was ultimately dismissed for 101 just after he got to the three-figure mark. 

India scored 141 runs in the final session as they ended on 294/7 with a lead of 89 runs over England’s first innings score. The England bowlers were made to work extremely hard. They had hardly any energy left by the end of the day’s play. Anderson and Stokes bowled as many as 42 overs together while, Leach bowled just 23. Bess had an off day as he bowled just 15 overs and gave away 56 runs. Root tried to cover up for Bess bowling 14 overs and costing 46 in the process. 

Axar Patel and Washington Sundar took India safely to stumps and kicked off the proceedings on the third day. Washington played some shots that left everyone in awe while Axar gave a true account of himself with the bat. He was outstanding and displayed some wide array of shots. With Washington on 96, Axar got run-out and India lost three wickets in six balls in a heart-break for the wonderful all-rounder from Tamil Nadu as he ended up being strangled at the other end on 96 with the Indian innings ending at 365 with a humongous lead of 160 runs.

England were back perhaps with a mission to actually salvage the match, counter the deficits and put a respectable total but ther struggles against spin continued. Crawley and Bairstow fell together in an over to Ashwin while Shubman Gill ensured with his brilliant fielding that Sibley was caught off Axar’s bowling by Rishabh Pant. The writing was on the wall as Ben Stokes & Ollie Pope were dismissed cheaply by Axar Patel before Ashwin put the final nail in the English coffin after getting Root out LBW. Ben Foakes and Dom Bess wickets ensured that Axar Patel got another 5-wicket haul much to the joy of his captain who was eager to finish the game quickly.

Dan Lawrence showed great determination and grit trying to counter the Indian bowling as he scored a 50 after missing out in the last inning but Ashwin wrapped up the tail with him also ending up with 5 wickets in the inning as the English batting collapsed rather characteristically for 135 and gave India a massive victory by an inning and 25 runs.  Rishabh Pant was the Man of the Match for his heroics and yet another mindblowing knock of 101 while with 32 wickets and a century to his name, India’s evergreen match-winner Ravichandran Ashwin was awarded the Man of the Series quite deservingly and what a fitting way for India to make it to the WTC Final at Lords facing New Zealand in what promises to be a cracker of a final considering how the teams have fared so far making mincemeat of their opponents on the lead up to this final. 

There has undoubtedly been so much of hue and cry surrounding the pitch. From cricket pundits to English cricket fans, multiple fingers have been raised against the Indian cricket authorities for bad pitches, resulting in England’s poor performance but the Indians clearly did not face any such problems. 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the ratings for the pitches used in the recently-concluded India-England Test series. The track for the pink-ball Test held in Ahmedabad has received an ‘average’ rating by the ICC, escaping sanctions, after the game got over inside two days. If the Ahmedabad pitch in the third Test had been rated ‘poor,’ it would have meant three demerit points. 

The accumulation of five such points across a 5-year period would have resulted in a 12-month ban on hosting any international cricket games at the venue. The ‘unfit’ rating is accorded in the most severe circumstances, and in this case, the match can be considered as won by the visiting team. Some English experts called the one in the second Test a ‘lottery’ and ‘disgrace.’ In reply, Indian pundits asked for retrospection from the critics, pointing to green tops usually found in England. It is unfortunate to hear such things about our pitches when the problem lies with the visitors not quite applying themselves causing their downfall.

We certainly have a lot of positives to take away from this series right with uncovering so many youngesters who are absolute superstars, have shown their promising talent and will help form the core and our bench strength is also one among the many things to celebrate. The duo of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli combined to lead Team India and they simply cannot be credited enough. For them, Test cricket has been the pinnacle and their approach to ensure that India produces and dominates as the best Test team in the world is for everyone to see. Taking the losses in their stride among the other criticisms, Shastri and Kohli have incorporated, strategized and produced a quality side that is simply so confident and on any given day can cripple the hopes of their opposition. 

Battling through the embarrassing 36 all-out to the highs of Gabba and the class-act at Motera, Team India always managed to fight back and have someone rescuing the team when we most needed it. We also how the conventionally type casted T20 superstars showcased their innate skill for Test cricket, the tail managed to always chip in, with the bowlers making the most of the conditions and the batsmen raised their game and so much more to take back from what a class outfit we are in the whites and we saw how opponents literally left them bruised and battered, so many former cricketers questioned their skills and approach. The tirade of memes and criticism from the fans. 

Also, do note how the Anil Kumble-led committee changed the rules midway through the World Test Championship, which made it tough for India to enter the finals despite leading the points table. Sledged, racially abused, and living in a bio-bubble for almost eight months would have mentally scarred them but in their zeal for success amidst all the chaos, this team India emerged as an inspiration to all of us undoubtedly. Here was a side that refused to get intimidated and make excuses. What a brilliant way to culminate a Test season that had plenty of action, drama, ups and downs but most importantly, had plenty of reflections and a lifelong worth of learnings and a whole generation invested and interested in this beautiful format, the pinnacle of it all, ‘Test Cricket’.

India registered only its second Test victory inside two days, overhauling a target of 49 against England in the day-night third game to take an unassailable 2-1 lead. In a Test match that turned out to be the shortest since World War II, this India and England encounter witnessed a very embarrassing batting collapse as the spinners made merry and that was literally the story of the test match. 

Let’s focus on major pointers from the match that served as the script for Episode 30 for my Podcast, Never on the Backfoot.

World’s largest stadium

The newly-refurbished cricket stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad has been renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium, it was announced at the inauguration on Wednesday ahead of the third Test between India and England. It was earlier called the Sardar Patel stadium.

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the world’s largest cricket stadium in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju among a host of other dignitaries. Spread over 63 acres, the stadium has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore and with a seating capacity of 1,32,000 spectators, it has surpassed the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground which can accommodate 90,000.“The total area is equivalent to 32 Olympic size soccer fields put together,” stated a note from the Press Information Bureau giving specifics of the enormous structure.

England’s 1st innings collapse

England hardly showed any intent batting first. Zak Crawley was the bright spot for them top-scoring with a masterful 53 off 84 balls. Dom Sibley and Bairstow registered ducks. Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes did not contribute enough and the trouble for England just seemed to get deeper. The rest of the tail also fell like a pack of cards and England was bundled out for a paltry 112. Axar Patel’s outstanding haul of six in the first innings was undoubtedly a game changer. Ashwin’s three scalps further added to England’s misery but was this turning out to be a tricky pitch to bat on? They just managed to make 112.

The pitch

The Ahmedabad pitch saw puffs of dust at the popping crease right from the first session of the first day. As it got baked under the sun, it crumbled further. Even the bowlers’ landing areas got uneven due to loose soil and the batsmen’s spikes. Groundsmen could be seen trying to level it from the third session of the first day and throughout the second day. Even in Chennai, it did not look as dusty on Day 1 as it was in Ahmedabad. That Test was on a rank turner but it went till the fourth day. Just because spin poses no physical threat to players does not mean the pitch is fit for a Test.

That was the divisive impact of the third Test—greats taking a dig at the conditions and the playing style of their own teams. Virat Kohli though saw nothing amiss. It was a “very good” pitch to bat on he said and that the low scores (neither team crossed 145 in four innings) was due to “lack of application” from the batsmen. 

Yet, apart from Sharma’s 66 from the first innings in Ahmedabad and England opener Zak Crawley’s 53, no other batsmen had an answer on this pitch. It wasn’t just the turn. It was the unpredictability. While some areas of the pitch provided a massive turn, the ball also jumped up at batsmen from some other spots. None of this is to take any credit away from Patel, who got his 11 wickets displaying exemplary control and guile—setting up batsmen with vicious turners before unleashing an arm ball that went straight and either took the stump or trapped batsmen leg before, all of it at a seriously nippy pace with the hard lacquer of the pink ball making it zip off the pitch.  In the two previous Tests in Chennai, the track used for the first Test was red while the one for the second match had a darker look. The first was a batting paradise while the second one was a rank turner. It is quite possible that the next Test can have an altogether different quality of the pitch.

India’s 1st innings

India were 99 for 3 in reply to England’s 112 all, at stumps on day 1. At the close of play, opener Rohit Sharma was batting on 57 and giving him company was vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on 1 trailing by 13. We lost Shubman Gill early on 11 and Pujara was dismissed for a very surprising duck. Kohli and Rohit Sharma were forging a very crucial partnership and looked at ease however, an amazing delivery from Jack Leach that was a length ball dismissed the skipper. Kohli looked to play for the turn but it just skidded straight on, got on the bottom edge and on to the off stump and gone. 

But what followed on day 2 was bizarre. Trailing by 13 runs at the end of the first day’s play, India resumed with Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane from 99/3. They were soon sucked into a spin whirlpool, with Joe Root and Jack Leach (4/54) bowling in tandem. When India was bowled out at the end of the first session, they had a first-innings lead of 33 runs. India’s first innings folded for 145 with opener Rohit Sharma top-scoring with a 66-run knock being the only positive. Joe Root returned career-best figures of 5/8 on what was just a surprising turn of events. Perhaps even he was shocked at his wickets, a fifier. 

England’s batting

After bundling up the visitors for 112 in the first innings, Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin teamed up to script England’s worst collapse against the hosts. Joe Root & Co were bowled out for a paltry 81 which happens to be England’s lowest-ever total in a Test match against India. England had registered their previous lowest-total against India back in 1971 at the Oval. BS Chandrashekhar scalped 6 wickets to restrict Ray Illingworth-led England for 101 in the second innings. 

Patel picked five wickets in the English second essay, adding to his outstanding haul of six in the first innings, his best bowling performance in a pink-ball match. Ashwin, on the other hand, added four more to his first-day spoils of three scalps to cross the 400-wicket mark in the longest format. He became the fourth Indian after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417) to achieve the feat. England’s scorecard bore a dismal look with all-rounder Ben Stokes 25 and Ollie Pope’s 12 being the best contributions.

India batting

Chasing an easy 49, Indians seemed at ease with the past horrors of 36/9 totally not running in their minds and showed full intent and liberty dispatching deliveries at ease to the boundary. At Dinner, India were 11/0, needing 38 more to win, which job was completed within twenty minutes of the final session. Rohit Sharma (25) and Shubman Gill (15) then completed the formalities in 7.4 overs, barely half an hour into the final session of the day.

Reactions post the match

“It’s just been a bizarre game, I’ve never been part of such a Test match,” was the apt summation of the nature of the match by winning captain Virat Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony. 

Many experts felt is this the true nature of test matches, some weird suggestions to have 3 innings, how it is unfair but as Rohit Sharma rightly pointed out that we don’t complain about pitches when we go abroad. We learn and adapt and not crib like the English is doing right now and they were seen showing open disapproval over umpire calls which was very disappointing and unsportsmanlike. 

Even Ashwin indicated the same in the press where he mentioned how in our previous tour to New Zealand, 2 test matches got done in 5 days and then it was not the most debated thing, so what’s different now and his cryptic tweets indicated the same as well.

It also becomes important to understand that the pink ball usually moves a lot more than the red ball. The extra coat of lacquer helps as does the grass that is supposed to be left on the pitch for day-night Tests. But Ahmedabad is dry and dusty and the wickets there have always supported spin so it wasn’t very surprising but as Kohli said, the batsmen simply did not apply themselves enough.

England’s questionable selection

But as England were picking their playing XI for the third Test against India, they only saw one side of the coin. They focussed too much on the pink ball and forgot to think about the pitch or the conditions that the match was going to be played in. England picked three fast bowlers (James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer), a pace-bowling allrounder (Ben Stokes) and one proper spinner (Jack Leach) for the game. Joe Root can also bowl some spin.

They might argue that this is their best set of bowlers but it is clearly an attack that lacks balance. It almost feels like the visitors have taken a knife to a gunfight. In a sense, England put all their eggs in one basket and then would have watched with a fair degree of shock as India’s spinners Axar Patel and R Ashwin went about dismantling their batting line-up.

Between them, Patel (21.4-6-38-6) and Ashwin (16-6-26-3) bowled 37.4 overs, gave away 64 runs and claimed nine wickets. The pink ball helped the spinners as many deliveries simply seemed to skid onto the batsmen while some turned sharply, especially from the end that Patel was bowling from.

Patel, who was brought into the attack as early as the seventh over by Kohli, did the smart thing. He identified the best way to attack on this particular wicket and then stuck to it.

Many England batsmen fell to the straighter one from Patel. They played for the turn and the ball simply skidded on. Perhaps they will argue that even the bowler wasn’t too sure what the ball would do so how was the batsman supposed to, but the manner in which batsman after batsman was dismissed would have been disturbing for the team management.

Decoding Indian spinners

Once again, India’s spinners throttled their scoring rate and once again, the England batsmen succumbed. Patel’s economy rate was 1.75 and Ashwin’s was 1.63 and if you let India’s spinners do that with a dodgy technique, you will not survive. It was amazing to see how often England’s batsmen seemed to play down the wrong line or how they were being beaten in the air. India’s spinners are very good but England’s batsmen were technically not good enough to counter them too.

Case in point being how Root was dismissed. He is their best player of spin but the way in which he was trapped by Ashwin, who changed his angle to come around the wicket and then trapped the England spinner right in front, showed that India are right on top in every way imaginable. When England came out to the field, one saw more of the dangerous lethargy that has plagued them since the second Test at Chennai. Their body language was poor and it seemed to suggest that they’d rather be anywhere else than at the Motera stadium. They dropped catches, misfielded numerous times and did not even bowl Leach from the end that Patel did most of his damage for a long time. Axar Patel definitely has been a revelation.

This blog is all about the 2nd test between India and England. With their big 317-run win in the second Test at the Chepauk India have levelled the four-Test series at 1-1. India won the toss on what was a very crucial toss and decided to bat first. The victory was crucial for India in the context of the World Test Championship as they need to win the series at least with a 2-1 margin or better to make the cut for the title clash against New Zealand. Discussed below are some crucial pointers and takeaways from the match.

Rohit Sharma’s brilliance

Rohit Sharma hit a masterful hundred while Ajinkya Rahane scored a sublime half-century to put India in a commanding position on the opening day. Rohit smashed 17 boundaries and two sixes in his breathtaking innings of 161. Opting to bat on a turning Chepauk track, India lost three wickets in the opening session in the form of opener Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kohli. While early wickets brought hope, late strikes brought relief for England. With runs on the board, India taking the much-needed opening advantage on a tricky pitch. 

India’s 1st innings

Shubman Gill and Kohli registered unfortunate ducks and couldn’t quite get going as per expectation. Ajinkya Rahane looked equally attractive during his knock of 67 off 149 balls and the two Mumbaikars added 162 runs for the fourth wicket which was delightful to see. A score of 350 plus in the first innings will be equivalent to 550 plus on any other track and Rishabh Pant’s (33 batting) dangerous presence could also take India well beyond the magic figure on this track. At stumps, he had debutant Axar Patel (5) for company.  Rahane’s 67 and Pant’s 58 in India’s first innings were scored at a time when the hosts needed partnerships. Eventually, Pant’s handy 58 and the loss of other wickets resulted in India making 329. Moeen Ali with his 4 wickets and Olly Stone with his 3 were just exceptional with the ball. 

England’s 1st innings

Having started off with a very unconvincing start, Burns and Sibley were dismissed early on for 0 and 16. Root and the rest of the middle order were listless putting up scores of single digits, there was absolutely no resistance. When England was bundled out for 134 in the first innings — their lowest score on these shores — it had little to do with the Chennai pitch, and more to do with their mindset and the inability to play a supremely gifted off-spinner R Ashwin, who is at the peak of his powers, and Patel, on a turning track. Thanks to senior off-spinner Ashwin’s effort where he picked a crucial fifer, India bowled out England for 134 in their first innings for a massive first-innings lead of 195 runs. Debutant left-arm spinner Axar Patel picked up two wickets, including the big one of England’s in-form captain Joe Root. In fact, Root turned out to be Axar’s maiden Test wicket. Lead pacer Ishant Sharma also took two wickets while there was one for Mohammed Siraj. Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes top-scored for England with 42 not out off 107 balls even as his teammates struggled to get starts at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

India’s 2nd innings:

At the close of play, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were batting on 25 and 7 respectively, as India reached 54 for one in their second innings on a day when the English batsmen were at sea against the home team’s spinners, especially Ravichandran Ashwin, who returned excellent figures of 5/43. But their dismissals meant Kohli had to up his ante with the falling wickets. 

Captain Virat Kohli struck 62 off 149 balls and added 96 runs for the seventh wicket with Ashwin, helping India extend their overall lead after they were reduced to 106 for six at one stage. While Kohli showed his class before falling to Moeen Ali for the second time in the game. Making sure that premier batsmen Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rohit Sharma take the back seat, Ashwin scripted history with his fifth Test match century.  Showing the world-class batsmen the way to tackle the challenging surface of the Chepauk, the middle-order batsman raised his stocks with a magnificent ton. On a pitch that many were criticising for an overt turn, Ashwin stood tall, scoring a brilliant century, after coming out to bat at number 8. His 106 off 148 balls, at an incredible strike rate of 71.62 helped India steady the ship. 

Ashwin played a solitary delivery less than the skipper in his career-defining 148-ball 106. For the record, Ashwin is the first player since 1966 to score a century and claim a five-wicket haul against England in Test cricket. India’s second innings ended at 286, shortly after Ashwin reached his three-figure mark. Jack Leach and Moeen Ali were the masterminds with the wickets and were simply exceptional on the pitch dismissing and making mincemeat of the rest of the tail. 

England’s 2nd innings

Set an imposing target of 482, England were tottering at 53 for three at stumps on the third day, requiring 429 more runs. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3/53) first sent back Dan Lawrence (26) and then removed Stokes (8) to add to the misery of the visitors. Skipper Joe Root (33) kept one end tight in the morning session but struggled to handle the ball from Patel that bounced a bit too much and was caught in the slip region. Once Root was back in the pavilion, it was not difficult for India to wrap up the proceedings. Ben Stokes joined England captain Joe Root to put up some resistance for the visitors, but it was Ashwin again who broke the partnership as he had Stokes caught at slip. Ollie Pope was soon to follow, as he miscued a sweep off Axar Patel to Ishant Sharma at mid-wicket. Kuldeep Yadav picked up his first wicket of the match as Ben Foakes also got out trying to sweep. Axar Patel struck soon after to claim Root’s wicket for the second time in the match and claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests when he trapped Olly Stone leg-before Moeen Ali had a late flourish, smashing 43 off 18 deliveries before Kuldeep Yadav had him stumped to wrap up the game for India. England lost by a massive margin of 317 runs and he hosts emerged victorious.

Indian spinners and their prowess

India’s troika of spinners, led admirably by their Ashwin, and well-supported by Patel and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, were miles ahead of Moeen Ali and Jack Leach when it came to utilising the favourable home conditions. Ashwin, with his diverse skill-set, was always a threat. But Patel was a bit of a revelation. With a slightly round-arm action, flatter trajectory and much quicker pace, he managed to extract ample turn and bite off this surface.

Patel’s inclusion also meant that the home team didn’t miss the services of their incumbent spinner Ravindra Jadeja — out with a finger injury — who would have been equally handful on this surface. England spinners, who unlike their Indian counterparts, failed to vary their pace astutely. Sure, they bowled unplayable deliveries. But they were interspersed with full tosses and long hops, which were dealt with aplomb by Indians. When England were bundled out for 134 in the first innings — their lowest score on these shores — it had little to do with the Chennai pitch, and more to do with their mindset and the inability to play a supremely gifted off-spinner R Ashwin, who is at the peak of his powers, and Patel, on a turning track.

Impressive Foakes and other misses

Foakes dropped a catch while standing up to Stuart Broad and missed a couple of stumpings, but it can still be said that his wicket-keeping was extraordinary. The English gloveman put in an assured performance with the bat in the first innings, making an unbeaten 42 and ensuring that Jos Buttler’s absence wasn’t felt dearly. In the second essay, however, he played an ill-advised sweep to give Kuldeep Yadav his first Test wicket in over two years. Though this Chepauk track was a spinners’ paradise, England missed the services of Jimmy Anderson. The English batsman, especially the top order had no answers to the questions posed by the Indian spinners. Considering the soil used for the pitch in the second Test was different to that in the first Test and as a result, the track began turning very quickly, England missed a trick by not playing off-spinner Dom Bess.

Underutilization of Broad and Ben Stokes

A couple of chances went down off Broad’s bowling, but it was still disappointing to see England’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket finish the game with zero scalps to his name. The speedster was sparingly used by captain Joe Root and might be replaced by either Jofra Archer or Jimmy Anderson for the next game. If he is kept in the team for his pink-ball prowess, he will need to put in a much-improved display. Stokes bowled only two overs before a suspected injury brought his involvement in that department to a close. With the bat, he was dismissed by Ashwin in both innings, one with a sharp turner and one with an arm ball. The left-hander should’ve attempted to be more proactive against the Indian spinners, as his defensive approach was bound to fail at some point. He even dropped a sharp catch at first slip.

A preview of the 3rd test

The Indian squad for the remaining two Tests was announced on Wednesday and there were not any major changes to the composition of the side. But yes, what was surprising was the absence of pacer Mohammed Shami from the squad. Shami was seen practising and was expected to be drafted back in the squad – but that has not happened. The only difference is the addition of Umesh Yadav who will replace Shardul Thakur subject to clearing a fitness test. Additionally, Shahbaz Nadeem who played the series opener has also been released for the domestic one-day tourney. 

The third Test starts from February 24 and will be played at the renovated Sardar Patel Stadium and it will be a day-night affair – the first between the two teams. India has so far played two pink-ball contests – winning one (vs Bangladesh at Eden Gardens) while losing the other (vs Australia at Adelaide Oval).

England’s Rotation policy

Late last year, England’s selectors and management sat down to plan how they would handle the three months of action encompassing the tours to Sri Lanka and India. By the end of March, England will have played six Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is, all while being cocooned in bio-secure bubbles of one sort or another. It is a hectic, challenging period of cricket. Asking players to play all of it is clearly not a realistic prospect. It is an unusual approach. Typically, England have rested their all-format players from limited-overs cricket. This winter, they are resting them for Test cricket too. But it is an eminently sensible, and innovative, approach. But surely, in a time of COVID-19, some flexibility of thinking is needed.

On balance, the current course of action is the right one. It enables players to have time away from the confines of bio-secure bubbles. It ensures they remain fresh and fit mentally and physically. It offers opportunities to other players as well. And if England did not rotate their squad, who says the results would be better? At the end of six Tests in eight weeks, an exhausted Ben Stokes probably isn’t going to be much use to anyone anyway. However, in a press conference after the conclusion of the Test, Root ended up saying that the all-rounder chose to go back home with two Tests still remaining against India. Joe Root, the England Test captain, apologised to Moeen Ali for saying that Moeen had chosen to go home after the second Test when indeed the all-rounder had been rotated as part of England’s rotation policy. 

This rotation policy has already seen Buttler going back home after the first Test. Jonny Bairstow also missed the first two Tests against India as per the rotation policy. Root’s comments caused quite a stir on social media, in which fans started to criticise Moeen for heading back home with the Test series hanging in the balance. Seeing how his comments were received, Root went up to Moeen in the team hotel and he offered his apology. Moeen has also accepted this apology rendered by Root and he will be heading back home on a good note.

This blog is all about the 1st test between India and England written by me, Neha Shetty for my Podcast, Never on The Backfoot as Episode 1. Although we were on the losing end, it was still a very exciting match that we got to see and some key pointers that we can discuss. 

After the heady high of Brisbane and beating Australia Down Under on pitches that always seemed to have something for the bowlers, India arrived in Chennai in high spirits. A series versus England, a top-notch side is always exciting and with the World Test Championship also looming in the background, it was certainly a lot of factors playing along. England won the toss here in the 1st test and decided to bat first.  England skipper Root, playing in his 100th Test, won an important toss and elected to bat first without any hesitation. There had been some grass on the wicket in the days leading up to the first Test but by the morning of the game, there was nothing much left on the wicket. India skipper Virat Kohli revealed that he would have done the same if he had won the toss and that was that. 

England’s 1st innings in focus

The England openers, Rory Burns and Sibley, put on 63 unhurried runs in the first session and they looked so in control that Kohli and India looked visibly worried. But then Burns gave India a lifeline when he was dismissed completely against the run of play while attempting to play the reverse sweep off Ashwin. A few balls later Dan Lawrence was trapped LBW by Jasprit Bumrah. From 63/0, England became 63/2 and there was perhaps a thought (influenced by what we saw in Australia no doubt) that a collapse might just happen. The hosts were greeted by a wicket that did the exact opposite and a resolute pair of England batsmen who simply didn’t want to give their start away.  Joe Root (128 not out off 197 balls) and Dom Sibley (87 off 286) put on a 200-run partnership to put England in the driver’s seat at the end of day one in the opening Test. Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets and Ashwin Ravichandran got one, but Indian fielders were sent on a bit of a leather hunt by the visitors. At the close of play, England were 263/3. 

Sibley’s vigil at the crease

But then Sibley was joined in the middle by the in-form Root and together, the duo simply went about the process of piling on the first innings runs that are crucial in India. Sibley employed what many Indians would refer to as the Cheteshwar Pujara template. He hung in there, didn’t worry about the runs too much but at the same time put the bad balls away. Over the years, India have seen Pujara do this to so many teams but here, Kohli and his team got a taste of what it feels like to be at the other end of a broad bat.

But Sibley on his own wouldn’t have troubled the Indians too much and that is where Root’s brilliance drove the home team into a corner. When Root came in to bat, England were in trouble. They had just lost two quick wickets and India knew that if they could get the England skipper early, they really would be in a position of great strength. But Root did what all good batsmen do. He initially looked to absorb all that the Indian bowlers could throw at him. He didn’t want his team to lose another wicket and he focussed on that. He got to 18 off 62 balls very carefully.

Then, he looked to consolidate – get the singles flowing, look for the odd four. He put the sweep shot away earlier, despite the great success it has got him, and concentrated on playing with the straight bat against Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Bumrah. But the moment Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar were introduced into the attack, he looked to take more initiative. The increased run-rate was evident in the manner he reached his 51 off 110 balls. Then, finally, with the bowlers tiring, he found an even higher gear. It helped that the pitch wasn’t doing anything but at no point did Root looked like he was inclined to throw it away. The sweep shot was now brought into play, the switch hit… the reverse sweep… all followed. Sibley did his thing at one end but the effortless manner in which he accelerated left India’s bowlers gasping for breath. And, when it felt inevitable, he reached 100 off 164 balls. It was his third century in a row – after scoring 228 and 186 against Sri Lanka at Galle – and it was near-flawless. The Indian bowlers weren’t given a chance. By the end of the day, Root’s strike-rate was 64.97

The pitch in focus

In the last over of the day, India finally got another wicket to end the 200-run stand between Sibley and Root. They shut shop and looked to play out the day and Bumrah sneaked in the yorker to trap the opener leg before the wickets.

Given how well Root batted one could just say that it was his day and doff your hat to him but there are two aspects that stood out. One was that Washington had little control when he was brought on to bowl. He bowled 12 overs and was carted around for 55 runs. Given how the pitch is playing, would India have been better served by playing Kuldeep Yadav instead of a spinner who can also bat? The left-arm wrist-spinner last played a Test for India in January 2019 and this wait cannot be good on his nerves. Nadeem’s indiscipline with the no balls did not help either, and the boundaries came far too easy for the visitors. Even before the action began on day two in Chennai, there was an interesting moment. “The pitch foxed us all. Expected it to assist spinners, but it was too, too slow on day one,” said India bowling coach Bharat Arun 

Day 2 in focus

Only for a brief period at the start of the day and then in the final session when England went from 454/4 to 555/8, did it look like India clawed their way back into the match a little. But England’s approach did not change despite the wickets. They just seemed to want to occupy the crease for as long as possible. Root and Co kept batting. A couple of deliveries from Shahbaz Nadeem pitched into the rough wide outside the left-hander’s off-stump — they bounced, they turned and they surprised the batsman. There was a puff of dust too. Instead of bothering England, those were the deliveries that prompted Stokes to go on the attack. He decided he wasn’t just going to hang around but instead move the game along at a good rate and while he was in the middle, India were sent on a leather hunt. Stokes (82 off 118 balls) and Root put on 124 off 221 balls and the partnership put India completely on the back foot. A few early wickets in the morning session would have put a spring in the stride of the home team but the shoulders were clearly drooping by the time the first session ended. But all along, Root was playing to a plan having scored that sublime 218 making the most of the conditions. A plan that he has spoken about at the end of day one, when he highlighted how England wanted to score 600-700 and bat as long as possible. Late in the day, there was some reverse swing for the Indian pacers but it was nothing that the batsmen couldn’t handle. At this point, England already had 578 on the board. 

India’s batting in their 1st innings

India got 337 in this innings that was certainly not going to be enough. Jofra Archer removed openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in the morning session and Bess soon took over with his off-spin to get key wickets including skipper Virat Kohli for 11. Bess got Kohli’s prized wicket with a ball outside the off-stump that spun sharply and the Indian captain pressed forward only to get an inside edge for a catch at short leg.

Pant smashed his fourth Test fifty in 40 balls to counter the England bowling but became Bess’ fourth victim after he miscued a lofted hit to get caught by Jack Leach at deep cover. Pant, who was one of India’s heroes in their Test win in Australia was again dismissed for 91 but helped India recover from 73/4 with a 119-run stand with Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 73.  Pujara was caught at short mid-wicket with the ball coming off a rebound from the shoulder of the fielder ducking at short leg. Dom Bess was terrific and claimed four wickets to jolt India’s progress. The finger spinner struck again in his next over with the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane for one as England skipper Joe Root took a stunning one-handed catch diving towards his left at cover. India reached 257/6 at stumps in response to England’s 578 in Chennai. Washington Sundar, on 33, and Ashwin Ravichandran on eight were batting with an unbroken stand of 32. The two Tamil Nadu cricketers held forte at their home ground to make sure India were not already bowling again. India still needed another 122 to avoid the follow-on. With Sundar making an 85,  and wickets around him tumbling, India was shot out for 337 which meant England would come in to bat and not enforce a follow on.

England’s topsy turvy 2nd innings

England had the option of enforcing the follow-on but they strangely decided against it. Their openers had 2 overs to negotiate before Lunch, which Rory Burns wasn’t able to. In a trademark subcontinental fashion, the second innings bowling on a wearing Day 4 pitch was opened by two spinners, Ashwin and Nadeem, and the move worked instantly as Ashwin became only the third spinner in the history of Test cricket to take a wicket with the first ball of an innings, getting Burns to edge one. The second session saw the game move quickly. 

More than a hundred runs were scored and India took four wickets as well. Ishant Sharma became India’s third pacer to get to 300 Test wickets by trapping Dan Lawrence leg before. England’s 2nd innings was not even close to what a splendid 1st innings as they were bundled out for 178. Starting the final session at 119/5 with a lead of 360, England would have hoped to add quick runs and give their bowlers as much time as possible to get 10 wickets. The pitch was suddenly showing some different colours and variants unlike the road like feeling it gave for the first 3 days giving absolutely nothing away to the bowlers. Ashwin starred picking 6 wickets and prominent batting displays was perhaps the standalone 40 made by Root. Now, this meant India had 420 to chase and man, was it going to be an uphill battle.

India’s disappointing 2nd innings in focus

Virat Kohli was the top performer for India with a knock of 72 runs off 104 balls, but his 24th half-century went in vain as England bowlers put in a fine performance. Having lost Rohit Sharma before the close of play on Day 4, India made a poor start on the final day. Cheteshwar Pujara lost his wicket to a brilliant delivery from Jack Leach after scoring only 15 runs. Opener Shubman Gill built a small partnership with captain Kohli, but was dismissed after reaching his half-century.  The rest of India’s batsmen including the likes of Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar were sent back to the hut cheaply, leaving Kohli to fight a lone battle. Leach hogged the limelight, taking four wickets, while James Anderson’s terrific spell of reverse swing bowling, helped him scalp three wickets. Anderson is certainly ageing like fine wine as he was unbelievable. Jofra Archer, Dom Bess and Ben Stokes registered a wicket each in the second innings.

England then defeated India by 227 runs on Day 5 to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. In reply to England’s target of 420 runs, India could only muster a second innings score of 192 in 58.1 overs. Disappointing and quite a lot of factors to reflect on for the next test. Test cricket is thriving: It still might not be the best Test victory in the past week, and it arguable only squeaks onto the podium for 2021. Kyle Mayers’ efforts in Bangladesh take some beating, as does India’s storming of the Gabbatoir. Teams are winning away, big targets are being chased, and previous conceptions of the natural order of things are falling away. The young lads of India: He has been impressive and we would love to see how he carries on. Although many feel Kuldeep would have been a better fit but with Sundar, the batting is deep and his spin is also going to come handy in the next test at his home ground. Gill was also batting so fluently and with the skipper also praising him for his excellence shows what a player he is shaping up to become.  

Ravi Ashwin and Ishant Sharma: They are certainly the core of the bowling in the whites and even though they had it tough in the 1st innings, they fought back in the 2nd innings and cemented their brilliance bowling their hearts out which was so delightful to see.

James Anderson is a freak: His searing in-duckers to rip the heart out of India’s batting effort showed Anderson going to another level again. He’s normally saved his unplayable balls for helpful conditions and the new ball, moulding himself into a parsimonious pressure-builder elsewhere, but this was old-ball devastation of the highest order, with not a cloud in the sky. 

Jack Leach is a class bowler: In the first innings, Rishabh Pant launched the kind of assault at Jack Leach that can reduce a spinner’s confidence to tatters. The name of Simon Kerrigan is never far from being mentioned when an English twirler takes a pounding, and with Leach open about how he’s having to feel his way back into his bowling after a torrid time interrupted by illness, some wondered whether this could prove a damaging passage of play.

That’s all, share your insights in the comment box:)

On Dec 19: India 36 all out

On Jan 19: India win series. 2-1. Gabba Fortress breached.

13 years ago, India won on the same day at Perth. Fighting against the tide.Now, we’ve done it again. Fightback when all the odds are stacked against us.

This blog is all about the last and final test played at the Gabba in Brisbane written by me, Neha Shetty as a part of Episode 26 of my Podcast, Never on the Backfoot. A fearless India pulled off an improbable and exhilarating three-wicket win over Australia in the fourth Test to claim the series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane.

India was down and beaten and the anticipation surrounding the squad

India started the game as underdogs following the loss of four players from the drawn third Test, which finished on Monday in Sydney. Pace spearhead Bumrah (abdomen), off-spinner Ashwin (back), batsman Hanuma Vihari (hamstring) and all-rounder Ravi Jadeja (broken thumb) were all ruled out. T Natarajan and Washington Sundar made their debuts while there were also recalls for batsman Mayank Agarwal and seam bowler Shardul Thakur. There were a lot of permutations possible of who would make the team but we clearly struck gold with the selection.  By contrast, Australia only made one change, with Harris coming in for Will Pucovski, who injured his shoulder while fielding in Sydney.

Will Puckovski’s injury, Marcus Harris replacement

Will Puckovski was unfortunately injured and Marcus Harris, an unheralded star made his way through to the team. Although, both the innings he had average outings. India could not have asked for a better start to the day after Siraj dismissed David Warner in the first over, helped by a quite sensational catch by Rohit Sharma at second slip. Not long after, Thakur dismissed Marcus Harris with the first ball on his comeback to the Test side.

As we had seen in the series, India did a good job of not letting Australia dictate the tempo earlier even if Steve Smith and Labuschagne looked to be on their way to completing a hat-trick of century partnerships. Later in the second session, Washington ensured that wouldn’t be the case as he had a Test wicket to his name before conceding a Test run, getting Smith caught at mid-wicket in his fourth over after starting off with three maidens. At 87/3, it really did feel like India were on to something.

Labuchagne’s brilliant 100

Labuchangne has become a very dependable number 3 for Australia and after the fall of the wickets, and thus continued a phase of play where Australia pushed forward with Matthew Wade and Labuschagne. This time, the hosts seemed keen to establish dominance too. They were batting a few yards outside the crease, the bad balls were being put away with authority. Thakur, who kept striving for the full length because he was the Indian bowler extracting most swing, was particularly severely dealt with.

Natarajan’s performance

Then, it was Natarajan’s turn to provide the breakthroughs. In his short international career, the pacer from Tamil Nadu has developed the useful habit of delivering wickets for his captain when the going is tough. Like he did in his first ODI by ending India’s wait for a wicket in the first powerplay, like he did in the T20Is with crucial wickets, Natarajan returned to bowl a spell with the older ball to remove the well-set Wade and Labuschagne. Both the dismissals were a case of batsmen trying to be extra aggressive against a rookie, then getting deceived by the extra bounce he was able to extract.

Australia’s batting firing- middle and lower-middle order, the final score

What worked really well for Australia was the fact that their middle and lower-middle order had people scoring handy runs. Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine and cameos from Starc and Lyon ensured Australia had 369 on the board which was a competitive total. 

Indian bowling -do note that entering this test, we didn’t have a single bowler who has 50 wickets, a completely inexperienced attack yet so impressive)

Credits have to be given to the Indian bowling that was really under a lot of pressure with so many debutants and newbies making their way into the squad. Siraj was like the leader of the pack and his excellence certainly rubbed off on Natarajan, Thakur and Sundar who had 3 scalps to their name. Each session, they were growing from strength to strength. It also becomes important to see the team gelling as a whole a case in pint being Bumrah giving advice to the bowlers at the boundary, and if someone’s had a bad over Rohit Sharma and Rahane would be there talking and comforting the bowlers especially Saini and Thakur. This was certainly an in-experienced bowling line up but so many positives to dwell on)

Indian batting

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were out to bat for India in this imperative 2nd innings. Rohit Sharma’s cracking start was delightful to see. He was middling the ball so well and for 73 balls but a poor stroke and his 44 run vigil at the crease came to an end. It was a disappointing dismissal and again we had a whole set of experts dissecting how it was an unnecessary shot and the need to have him persist for longer in the innings. Facing Nathan Lyon in the 20th over, after already having hit a four, Rohit came down the track and tried to take on the fielders in the deep. Because he knows, if he gets the timing right, fielders in the deep don’t matter. He did so in Sydney not long back, going from 47 to 51, off Lyon. It came off, then. At Gabba, batting on 44 with not long to go for tea, it did not come off. The instant reaction many had was, “why that shot and why now?”

That was Rohit Sharma, the Test batsman away from home, in a nutshell. Some may think that is a very specific subset to be talking about but it is the subset that everyone who has followed Rohit’s Test career wants him to succeed in. Next in the line was Shubman Gill who was dismissed for 7 off 15. With one boundary and some good running, it was expected that he would stay in for longer. But he too didn’t and with Pujara, Rahane, Agarwal and Pant getting dismissed not adding much to the scoreboard, there were fears if India could reach the 369 posted or even pose an imposing lead. Oh and lest I forget Rahane & Pujara have earned the unique distinction of playing all the 4 matches in the series.

This is impressive as they persisted throughout and even though they had ups and downs, but they become embodiments of persistence and strength. Also, dwelling into the fact if Mayank Agarwal is a better fit in the middle order is too early to gauge as this tour has been disastrous for him, so his position in the middle order replacing Vihari is just a temporary fix. So, too early to comment on that. Now the ship was revived for India by Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur. Shardul Thakur, batting at No 8, scored 67 off 115, which included nine fours and two sixes, to help India fightback from a precarious position. Along with Washington Sundar (62 off 144), he helped add a brilliant 123-run partnership for the seventh wicket which kept India alive in the game and they ensured we still had a respectable position in the match. Washington Sundar also registered the highest individual score for a debutant batting at number seven in Australia. This valiant effort ensured India ended their 1st innings at 336 thus conceding a 33-run lead.

The Aussie attack’s consistency

Josh Hazlewood starred with the ball getting 5 crucial wickets giving almost nothing away to the Indians. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins with their 2 wickets were also good and Lyon with his wicket were good in restricting the Indians.

Australia’s 2nd innings

Steve Smith was the top scorer for Australia in their second essay as he scored 55 runs off 74 deliveries, with the help of seven boundaries. David Warner, Marcus Harris and Cameron Green also made notable contributions of 48, 38 and 37. Pat Cummins and skipper Tim Paine also made scores of 28 and 27. This ensured Australia put up 294 on the board. Aussies’ wagging tail has been a major advantage and when batting with Paine, they do manage to add on to India’s agony if allowed to persist.

For India, right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj picked up his maiden five-wicket haul, conceding 73 runs in 19.5 overs. Shardul Thakur also picked four wickets for 61 while debutant off-spinner Washington Sundar scalped one.

India’s 2nd innings- review chasing 328

India now had to chase down 328 in the final Test to end Australia’s 32-year unbeaten run at the Gabba and seal a memorable, second straight series win Down Under. With everyone praying for at least a draw, how did India manage to pull of a win? Let’s delve into that. 

India reached 4/0 in its chase on 328 in the extended final session on Monday before rain started pouring in and umpires were forced to call for early Stumps. Only 1.5 overs could be bowled in India’s second innings on Day Four as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 4 and 0 respectively. Shubman Gill played a delightful 91 only to be dismissed cheaply but credits to the young lad who has certainly made the world stand up and take notice of what a brilliant player he is. 

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane’s stay was not fruitful. Rishabh Pant led the chase with an unbeaten 89 as India overhauled the target with 18 balls to spare in a match that went down to the wire. The wicketkeeper-batsman balanced aggression with maturity to power what looked like an impossible win while Cheteshwar Pujara – who endured many painful blows on his body in his dogged 56-run knock – scripted another epic with his 211-ball knock. 

Even debutant Washington Sundar dug in and partnered Pant’s late strikes. It was a fitting finale to a fascinating Tests series which started with the pink-ball Test in Adelaide where India were bowled out for 36 and ended with a fightback for the ages at Australia’s fortress in Brisbane. Dogged by regular injuries, India’s inexperienced side was guided by captain Ajinkya Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri to the incredible win. The Aussie bowling proved to be very mediocre in the 2nd innings of India with Pat Cummins being a different piece of commodity striking at regular intervals and bowling unbelievably well. 

An inspiring fightback (let’s also keep in mind this is the best Aussie attack, Smith and everyone back and don’t say 2018 was a one-time thing, all those who wrote us off after 36/9)

This is not the new normal, let’s not get carried away. It’s important to be precise and identify this side as the one that has slowly been bound together by falling apart over the last three Tests, because the next India side will be fundamentally different in personnel and spirit – more of which later. India were, for much of this series, genuine underdogs, and everybody loves an underdog. That hasn’t been the case with India for a long time. “Can’t wait to get you to the Gabba, Ash, tell you what… ooh, ooh” are words and calls Tim Paine surely regrets. Faith, courage, belief, grit, character, spirit – in the context of cricket at least, you have raised the bar for these words, which are often worn from overuse. Not only have you – and I do not use these words lightly – created the greatest moment in India’s Test history, you have provided a glorious hurrah to the most epic, the most layered, form of sport known to us.

Test cricket is life itself: not only is it a game of the highest skill, it is also a test of endurance and adaptability, patience and courage. There is the toil, ball after ball, session after session, day after day. You can glide on the waves only if you have the heart to weather the storms. There is heartbreak and there is redemption: Test cricket always gives you a second chance. How well India forged steel from the debris of Adelaide, numerically the lowest point of their Test history, with their captain and best batsman, and one of their strike bowlers gone. In the first Test against Australia, India was bundled out for 36 and there were many pundits who said the visiting team will face a 4-0 drubbing. But proving every critic wrong, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side registered famous victories in Melbourne and Brisbane. The side also recorded an epic draw in Sydney and at every step, the line-up overcame adversity.

Shoutout to the support staff and our net bowlers

The support staff has been the backbone and really have toiled so hard in the series. They’ve literally nursed so many injuries, helped in the management and have been so prompt. Ravi Shastri has been such a legend and his stint with R Sridhar and Bharat Arun and everyone has certainly been so important and crucial for India. The kind of planning and strategy with Bharat Arun revealing how Shastri had called him in July to devise a plan to counter the Aussies’ offside. This is perhaps one among the many stories that will come to the fore after this splendid display.

Special mention to Kartik Tyagi. Everyone did their effort, everyone contributed, it was not about one or two individuals. I just want to mention Kuldeep Yadav and Kartik Tyagi. Kuldeep, I know it was tough for you, you did not play a game here but your attitude was really good. Your time will come, just keep working hard. Kartik you were fantastic,” said Rahane while addressing the Indian team in a video posted on the official website of BCCI on Saturday.

Wonderful endorsement for Test cricket, renewing hope that the format has a lot to offer to the younger generation

The facts are that a four-match Test series between two evenly matched sides had gone to the wire late on the final afternoon, which is only good for the ongoing promotion of Test match cricket. “New” India had been well represented by cricketers who happily look their opponent in the eye for a long as the opponent looks in theirs. The 36 disaster in Adelaide had been immediately dealt with by Rahane, whose hundred a week later in Melbourne was a thing of beauty and great courage. The many injuries and absences gave an opportunity to a wide array of Indian talent that confirms the idea of India being able to put two good teams on the park, much as Australia were able to do in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Twitter threw its many handles behind Rahul Dravid, who has responsibility for the development of the best young cricketers in the land. One cannot think of a better man.

Credits to Kohli, the captain who built this core and we owe it to him

Virat Kohli tweeted, ‘WHAT A WIN!!! Yessssss. To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up and take notice. Exemplary performance but the grit and determination was the standout for us the whole way. Well done to all the boys and the management. Enjoy this historic feat lads. Cheers’. It indeed summed up what the victory meant and how we do owe a great deal to Kohli who has been instrumental in building the team, the core and instilling a never say never attitude. Rahane has been fantastic and he’s led the side from the front. The last time a visiting team came out triumphant from the Brisbane Cricket Ground was back in November 1988 when the mighty West Indian outfit under the leadership of Viv Richards thrashed Allan Border’s team by 9 wickets. This proves what a sweet win this is. 

WTC, England series

The maiden cycle of the World Test Championship has entered its final stage after India beat Australia 2-1 in a dramatic Test series Down Under. At the moment, four teams – India, New Zealand, Australia and England – are in contention for the World Test Championship final to be played at the Mecca of Cricket – the Lord’s Cricket Ground. India’s scintillating series win against Australia Down Under propelled the team to the top spot in the World Test Championship; they have 430 points in their kitty and a PCT of 71.67%, which gives them some much-needed breathing space.

India will need to reach at least 505 points in the World Test Championship to confirm their qualification for the final without banking on the results of the series between South Africa and Australia. So, the golden question here is – by what margin will India need to beat England to earn the former a direct berth in the World Test Championship final? The answer is: beating England by a 4-0, 3-0, 3-1 or 2-0 will take India’s points tally to at least 505 points in the World Test Championship table and confirm their berth in the final.

This blog is all about Test 3 of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. This was written as a script for my Podcast, Never on the Backfoot for Episode 24.

December 19th – India 36 all-out.

December 29th – India won at MCG.

January 11th – India batted 131 overs to seal a draw at SCG.

Greatest ever come back in Indian cricket history. Yes, we witnessed one of the greatest ever comebacks.

This blog is all about India’s legendary draw vs Australia in this very exciting Border Gavaskar Trophy. This match will forever be etched in our memory for the sheer grit and determination displayed by the Indians and so much more to reflect on.  We will be reflecting on the turn of events prior to the 3rd test, Australia’s 1st innings batting, Steve Smith’s delightful knock, India’s bowling, India’s batting in their 1st innings, Australia’s confident declaration, India’s openers showing some class, the curious case of Steve Smith, the unfair criticism of Pujara. Additionally, we will be focussing on Rishabh Pant, Jadeja’s injury, Vihari and Ashwin’s resolve and India’s long injury list and what it means for Test 4 and replacements.  

Let’s get started first up with the pre-test fiasco and bio bubble breach

Rohit Sharma, fast bowler Navdeep Saini, openers Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant were placed in isolation on Saturday after a video surfaced showing them eating inside a Melbourne restaurant on New Year’s Day. The Australian and Indian cricket boards investigated the alleged breach of biosecurity protocols with precedent suggesting the players might not be selected for this test as they would be obvious health hazards.

It all started after a fan, identified as Navaldeep Singh, tweeted pictures and videos of cricketers Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini and Shubman Gill having a meal at a restaurant. Then it was proven there was no breach in bio-security protocols as they still played in the match. It becomes important to understand that everyone associated with the Indian team is well aware of the protocols and it seemed like a malicious spin by a section of Australian media and this has started after their humiliating defeat.

Australia’s 1st innings

Australia won the toss and like any other team that wins the toss in tests decided to bat first. The rain delay was a little annoying. With David Warner returning and partnering Will Puckovski, a solid opening stance was expected. But that was not the case as Warner was out early for 5 but Puckovski scored a well crafted 62 for a debutant and looked so confident. Smith once again found his touch scoring a 131 and we got to see some exceptional boundaries. Labuchagne once again played a solid second fiddle scoring a 91. 

Ravindra Jadeja threw down the stumps to run-out Steve Smith in the first innings which was a brilliant piece of fielding. His run to pick-up the ball and then the direct hit showed why he is a candidate for being one of the best fielders in world cricket. But the celebrations were that little bit more boisterous because of how bad the team has collectively been on the tour. The rest of their batting was mediocre barring the 24 that Starc made but owing to the excellence in line and length displayed by the Indian bowlers and the fielding too. But 338 on the board meant a very total and for India to get there would be an arduous task. But Australia still made the most of good batting conditions on a rain-shortened day

India’s bowling

India was bowling considerably well and we have to keep in mind that this is not the first choice bowlers but owing to the unfortunate nature of the injuries, we still had a very good bowling line up that was bowling well. Bumrah and Saini took 2 wickets each, Jadeja starred taking 4 crucial wickets and Siraj took the solitary wicket and the two run-outs also rocked the Australian ship. India’s bowlers toiled hard on a wicket that is good for batting and the team might have been in a better position if they had taken all their chances.

Catches win matches, can’t stress enough on this: Almost feels like a series that has been defined by the chances that have been dropped compared to the ones that have been taken. India were poor in the first Test, Australia returned the favour in the second and Pant continued the trend by dropping Will Pucovski early on.

Australia opener Pucovski was dropped twice by Pant – first off Ashwin (on 26) and then off Siraj (on 32). He went on to make his fifty but Pant also single-handedly kickstarted the whole wicketkeeper-batsman vs batsman-wicketkeeper debate again. It is common knowledge that Wridhiman Saha is a vastly better keeper than Pant against spin. But the Indian team usually opts for Pant away from home taking into account the risk he represents. Still, in good batting conditions where the bowlers have worked so hard to create the opportunity, such dropped chances hurt.

The debutants: Saini and Puckovski

The right-hander showed he was at ease against pace and spin. He does have the exaggerated movement towards the off-stump, much like Smith and Labuschagne, but he has also scored big runs in domestic cricket using that technique.  Still, it is just the beginning and the top teams in international cricket will look to break him down with the short ball and the full ball that will trap him leg before the wicket, which is exactly what India’s debutante Navdeep Saini managed to do. Saini came into the playing XI for the injured Umesh Yadav but it was a while before he got the ball in his hand. He was a little short to begin his spell and his first two balls in Test cricket were hit for fours by Pucovski but he started making a correction towards the end of his spell. He got Pucovski with a ball that tailed into the batsman. For most of his spell, he had been bowling around the mid-130s but this particular delivery saw him kick it up into the 140s and that got India a vital breakthrough.

India’s 1st innings batting

India was in to bat now and we had Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma, new openers for Team India. They gave India and perhaps the first 50 runs opening stand in as many 14 innings in tests for India as we’ve struggled to find a solid opening pair. Gill and Pujara with their 50s were the only positives.

As India crashed to 244 all out in the Sydney Test, the focus once again shifted to India’s bizarre approach to batting in away Tests. Those 244 runs came off 100.4 overs on a pitch that wasn’t exactly poor for batting. The odd ball did do something but most experts reckoned it was a new-ball pitch and batting should have gotten easier after that. Batting should have been at its easiest at this point but by not showing any intent to score runs, India’s batsmen once again shot themselves in the foot. Shubman Gill has been really impressive. Both the innings he batted on we could see he was fluently tackling the Aussie pace trio of Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood. 

Unfair criticism of Pujara, ‘the intent’

All eyes invariably moved to Pujara, who made his slowest fifty in Test cricket before being dismissed for 50 off 176 balls – a strike-rate of 28.41. From 85/2 after 32.1 overs (when Gill was dismissed), India crawled to 142/4 after 67.2 overs (when Vihari was dismissed) – that is 57 runs in 35.1 overs for the loss of two wickets when the ball wasn’t new and hard. Some argued that this is how Pujara plays. Others felt the rest of the batsmen need to score at a better rate. A few grumbled about how Pujara needs to be more aware of the match situation. Still more started comparing him to Rahul Dravid and saying that the former India skipper had at least more strokes at his disposal. But that isn’t exactly true. In fact, Pujara has a higher career strike-rate than Dravid but perhaps our cricketing sensibilities are a product of the times as well. With matches hardly going the full distance these days, Pujara’s efforts come into focus even more. The thinking, for most batsmen, clearly is that if you are in, you need to make the most of your time in the time. In Pujara’s case, as it perhaps was in Dravid’s case too, though, the thinking seems to be that if you are in, then try and stay in for as long as possible.

Pujara, on the other hand, actually looks to take the initiative against spinners but away from home, against pace, he waits for the bowlers to come to him. If they, as the Australian bowlers have this series, can stay away from Pujara’s zone then there are no runs on offer. They can keep banging it in short of a length and the right-hander will continue to defend resolutely. Patience isn’t an issue for him but for the batsman at the other end, it is perhaps proving to be. Ordinarily, strike-rates in Test cricket should not be a talking point but given that it comes so soon after Adelaide, one must go back to Kohli’s words in the press conference after the defeat. “Probably didn’t have enough intent in the batting today. It’s something that needs to be reflected and learnt from,” Kohli had said. With Pujara in the middle, there is no denying that run-scoring does become more of a chore and while he has his own method, he, like Dravid, needs to figure out a way to make the most of his time at the crease but let him be. He is a premier batsman and let him just do what he does best. 

Australia declaring in the 2nd innings

Australia was entering the second innings already with a lead of over 94 runs and looked in full command and were confident of inflicting a major lead on India and did so setting an imposing 409 to win. Bolstered by the brilliant 84 and 81 by Green and Smith, at tea Australia declared 312/6. But they certainly did not see what was coming and what a turnaround the match would witness. 

India’s batting and the Viahri-Ashwin show

They resumed day five at 98/2, having lost both our openers and we still had Puajara and Rahane out there. Needing a further 309 runs after being set a huge 407 to win when Australia declared their second innings at tea Sunday on 312 for six. No team had ever bettered 288 to clinch victory in the fourth innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with Australia achieving that mark against South Africa in 2006. But India gave it a massive go, passing 288 in the final session to fray the nerves of Australian team throwing everything they had at them. The visitors abandoned any hope of victory but they bravely clung on for the draw with Hanuma Vihari, nursing a hamstring injury, surviving 161 balls for just 23 runs and Ravichandran Ashwin, who had treatment on his ribs, making 39. 

They steered India to 334 for five at the close, 73 runs adrift.  Their resistance was built on the back of an explosive 97 from Rishabh Pant and a typically gritty 77 from Cheteshwar Pujara, who passed 6,000 Test runs, but also helped by wicketkeeper Tim Paine dropping three catches. Australia removed openers, Shubman Gill, for 31 and Rohit Sharma for 52 before stumps on day four, and when Nathan Lyon accounted for captain Ajinkya Rahane without adding to his overnight four in Monday’s second over the end appeared nigh. But Pant, who took a nasty blow to his elbow while batting in the first innings and didn’t keep wicket on Sunday, surprisingly came in at number five ahead of Vihari and produced some fireworks. He came to the wicket with no strapping on his hurt elbow and, after settling in and surviving a missed catch by Tim Paine on three, began to hit out, smacking a four and a six off Lyon on consecutive balls. 

Batting in Twenty20-style, he then clobbered two more sixes in a row off Lyon before bringing up his third Test 50 off just 64 balls. He kept the scoreboard ticking over after lunch and a third Test century looked imminent only for the 23-year-old to throw his bat one time too many, caught by Pat Cummins off Lyon. His wicket shattered a 148-run partnership with Pujara, who resumed the day on nine and slowly reached a second consecutive 50. That left Vihari and Ashwin to weather the storm and they did so battling their own injuries.

‘India have got one batsman, one hamstring and one hand to save the game, that’s a lot of bravery’ is what Harsha Bhogle said and he summed it up pretty well. 

Steve Smith incident

Steve Smith was spotted scruffing up the batting mark on the final day of the 3rd Test. Smith did this during the drinks break while the Indian wicketkeeper was on a roll and the hosts were under a bit of pressure as they had just spilt a couple of chances. After the drinks break is over, Pant can be seen taking his guard again.  In the video, the player wearing the No 49 jersey is Smith himself and it was very unfortunate to see a player of his calibre engaging in tampering the pitch. Tim Paine defended him saying that there was no intention of Smith to do that except he just was visualising himself bat and that it wasn’t deliberate but this action of Smith certainly did not go down well with Twitter and experts as he was criticized majorly. 

Rishabh Pant

While Rishabh Pant has been exceptional with the bat, his keeping has come under the scanner. One can argue that there isn’t a lot to choose between Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Pant as batsmen. And Pant’s struggles behind the stumps represent an opportunity for Kishan and Samson if they can work on making their keeping better than Pant’s. It might just be the differentiator that will help them break into the Indian team. In a series where runs have come at such a premium, dropped chances are pure gold for the opposition. Pant is trying his best but at the moment, it is not good enough. His constant chatter behind the stumps is funny and a befitting reply to the Aussies who keep try to rile up the Indians.

A draw that we will savour for long, Rahul Dravid’s bday special

Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin batted out the entire evening session on day five to eke out a memorable draw against Australia in the third Test in Sydney. This was on the eve of the legendary Dravid’s birthday.  The duo wore down Australia by batting for more than 42 overs as India ended up with 334 for five in 131 overs, while chasing a mammoth 407 to win at the SCG. While they were at it, Vihari was battling a hamstring tear and Ashwin had taken a few hard hits to his ribs.

The art of Test-saving batsmanship displayed by Vihari and Ashwin brought to mind the dogged resistance which was the hallmark of the batting of Rahul Dravid, who turned 48 on Monday. Congratulating India for their “extraordinary” effort, the game’s governing body (ICC) wrote: “A fitting birthday gift for Rahul Dravid. An extraordinary display of resistance, fight and patience by India today.”  Former India batsman and domestic heavyweight Wasim Jaffer too was effusion in his praise for an Indian team, which battled a series of injuries and on-field abuses to earn a remarkable draw.

“Even a half-strength, battled, bruised, injured, ridiculed, abused, bio-bubble fatigued India is difficult for a full-strength Australia to beat at home. No praise high enough for this herculean effort. Told you this is a damn good team. 

India’s injuries going in to the last and final test

Ravindra Jadeja, who was sent for scans after a hit to the thumb while batting and eventually ruled out with the fracture. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant joined him in the clinic after a nasty blow to the elbow. Ashwin and Vihari were also injured owing to a back and hamstring injury and with Bumrah also facing abdominal strains, India is quite down on resources. It then becomes important to see if the management is managing injuries well, what is happening and the growing incidence of the injuries have to be evaluated. Many people also joked how India would struggle to put a proper playing 11 for the 4th test.

But the replacements can be in the form of Natarajan making his way in place of Bumrah, Washington Sundar coming in for Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal coming in for Vihari batting at 6. Kuldeep would’ve been an interesting addition but to add depth to batting, Sundar is a better option.  India is already without injured bowlers Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma and batsman KL Rahul, while skipper Virat Kohli is on paternity leave but our bench strength is proving they can still carry out their best with the absence of this legendary set of players not playing. Justin Langer points to ‘not ideal’ timing of IPL 2020 for growing injury list and said that “If you’re having more injuries or the trend is more injuries than usual, then you’ve got to review it”.