13

Aug

Column: Front Foot Forward

image

India-England Test Series: A Tale of Missed Opportunities

By Anil Jauhri

Given the great escape in Manchester and the proverbial snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat at the Oval, it’s appropriate to look at the gains from this tour to England first.

At the start of the tour, there were great apprehensions about how our batting would fare in English conditions since two-star players, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, had called it quits. Belying expectations our batting prospered except one failure in chasing 193. Jaiswal and Rahul at the top and Gill and Pant in the middle were the bulwark with excellent support from Jadeja and Sundar at no. 7 and 8. This, despite slots at n03 (Sai) and no 6(Nair) still to be cemented.

Another gain was that India won two Tests without Bumrah. No doubt Bumrah is world class performer across formats but it only proves that one genius can not win you Tests – you need a team. A masterly Gavaskar in his days or God-like talent of Tendulkar in his days could not singlehandedly win India Test matches – the rest of the team needed to back them up. Here the bowling rose to the occasion led by Siraj and delivered even if Bumrah was not playing. That is a great plus!

The emergence of Rahul and Jaiswal at the top – the evidence of which was seen in Australia last year itself is a big gain too – we have a reliable and settled opening pair now for some time. Its hard on Easwaran who has been waiting for considerable time but that is how life is. When Bedi was around, many great left armers like Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Geol, who would have walked into any other Test side, could not get a look in. With couple of batting slots in the middle not yet fully settled, Easwaran may still get a chance but has to contend with the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan for that.

Gill’s performance was another gain. His record overseas was not so great but this showing in England should be a forerunner to a long, productive career for India.

Its comforting that 4 slots out of 6 in the top order are settled – Jaiswal, Rahul, Gill and Pant. The other two slots are not yet fully settled but both Sai and Karun did just enough to get another look in. Hopefully they would grow in the next series and consolidate their places. As indicated above, there is strong competition waiting in the bench.

The back up pace attack also is a gain. Without Bumrah and Shami, they still won two Tests for India. If playing in India, we would need only two pacers and an additional spinner (Yadav) and it would be hard choice for selectors. But that is their job – to make hard decisions when needed.

Another gain was the spin all-rounders. Jadeja showed his versatility and Sundar was exceptional too. In fact he seemed more likely to take wickets than Jadeja. Which in overseas conditions would be a headache for selectors – we should ideally be having a pace all rounder in place of one spin all rounder. The lack of 4th pace option in the last Test showed up as we struggled for considerable time with Brook and Root at the crease.

As has been indicated above, back up pace bowlers performing was another big gain.

Now let us move  to the concerns!

The first concern should be the tendency to call up players form outside the chosen team – it happened in Australia when Padikkal and Harshit Rana were called up in preference to originally chosen players and then in England when Anshul Kamboj was called in rather than play a fit Prasidh Krishna. The flying out of a back up keeper just when one Test was to go was also uncalled for. This should be called out since it breeds insecurity among players and shows up selectors as inconsistent.

The second would be what appeared to be defensive approach. Packing the team with all rounders and then not being able to use them was disappointing. Packing with all rounders also meant that we could not play Yadav at all who any day was better wicket taking option than the two spin all rounders. But spin all rounders delivered more than expected with the bat and we were stuck.

Gill’s captaincy was another issue – he would have discovered that managing a Test match is different from captaining in T20 cricket. It especially showed up in his handling of bowlers – under bowling Thakur, late introduction of Sundar – basically an inability to judiciously utilize 5 or 6 bowlers at his command. He will of course learn as he goes.

Another concern should be about the so called workload management. As one former cricketer said – you are either fit to play or unfit. Even after 6 to 8 days gap between Tests, if a pacer is not played while being fit is incomprehensible and there should be a rethink.

The fact that two batting slots are still to be consolidated should be a concern. But there was some promise and there are strong contenders waiting in the wings. It should sort out in next series India plays.

We have to realise that need five specialist batters, one wicket keeper batter, one allrounder who would be pace in overseas matches and spin in India and the subcontinent, and four specialist bowlers – two pacers in India and the subcontinent and three pacers elsewhere. We are yet to strike a balance. Hopefully by the time next Test series arrives, we would have worked these out.

Finally, many may say that 2-2 was a fair result but let us not forget – we should have defended 371 target at Leeds, and scored 193 needed at Lord’s.

It should have been 4-1 in India’s favour or at least 3-2.

So finally it was a story of missed opportunities!!!

(A cricket buff from his student days, Anil Jauhri is   ex-CEO, National Accreditation  Board for Certification Bodies and an international authority on standardisation)

  • Share:

About Us

We must explain to you how all seds this mistakens idea off denouncing pleasures and praising pain was born and I will give you a completed accounts..

Contact Us

Contact Info

  • 70, Gyan Khand- 4, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Uttar Pradesh.
  • +91-9810533682
  • info@mediamap.co.in
  • Week Days: 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday: Closed